IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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1.0 


I.I 


■tt  lU   12.2 
£  110    12.0 


IL25  III  1.4 


1.6 


/. 


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Hiotographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WIST  MAIN  STRIIT 

WnSTIR.N.Y.  MSM 

(716)  •73-4503 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  historiquos 


\' 


Tachnicai  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notas  taehniquaa  at  bibiiographiquas 


Tha  Inatituta  haa  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  baat 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibiiographicaliy  uniqua, 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  in  tha 
raproduction,  or  which  may  aignificantly  changa 
tha  uaual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chackad  balow. 


D 


D 


D 
D 


D 


D 


Colourad  cove  ▼a/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


I     I   Covara  damagad/ 


Couvartura  andommagAa 


Covers  rastorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  raatauria  at/ou  palliculte 


I      I   Covar  titia  missing/ 


La  titra  da  couvartura  manqua 


I      I   Colourad  maps/ 


Cartas  gAographiquas  9n  coulaur 


□   Colourad  inic  (i.a.  othar  than  blua  or  black)/ 
Encra  da  coulaur  (i.a.  autra  qua  blaua  ou  noira) 

I      I   Colourad  platas  and/or  illuatrationa/ 


Planchaa  at/ou  illuatrationa  an  coulaur 

Bound  with  othar  material/ 
RaiiA  avac  d'autraa  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cauae  ahadows  or  diatortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serrAe  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  la  long  de  la  marge  IntArisure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  reatoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  theae 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutAes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaiaaant  dana  la  texte. 
mais.  lorsque  cela  Atait  poasibia,  ces  pagea  n'ont 
pas  M^  fiimAes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplAmentaires: 


L'Inatitut  a  microfilm^  la  meilleur  exemplaira 
qu'il  lui  a  AtA  poaaibia  da  se  procurer.  Les  details 
da  cat  axamplaira  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique.  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reprodulte.  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mAthoda  normala  de  filmaga 
sont  indiquAs  ci-daaaoua. 


n 
n 

Q 
D 

n 
n 


Coloured  pagea/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagAes 

Pagea  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pagea  restaurAaa  et^ou  pelliculAes 

Pagea  discoloured,  atainad  or  foxed/ 
Pages  d6colortes,  tachetAes  ou  piquAes 

Pagea  detached/ 
Pagea  ditachAes 

Showthrough/ 
Tranaparance 

Quality  of  print  variaa/ 
Quaiit^  in^gala  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  material  suppKmantaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  diaponible 

Pagea  wholly  or  partially  obacurad  by  errata 
slips,  tissuaa.  etc..  have  been  ref limed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Lea  pages  totalement  ou  partieliement 
obscurcies  par  un  fauillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc..  ont  M  filmtes  A  nouveau  de  fapon  A 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  rMuction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 


The  CO 
to  the  I 


The  im 
possibi 
of  the 
filming 


Origini 
beginn 
thp  las 
sion.  o 
other  c 
first  pa 
sion,  a 
or  illus 


The  lai 
ahsli  C( 
TINUEI 
which4 

IMaps, 

diffarei 

entirely 

beginn 

right  a 

require 

metho 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

aox 

y 

12X 

16X 

»X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

1 

lira 

details 
du 
modificer 
gar  una 
filmagb 


/ 
jAas 


lira 


by  arrata 
lad  to 

ant 

ma  palura, 

agon  A 


Tha  copy  filmad  Hara  has  baan  raproducad  thanica 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


Tha  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacifications. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covars  ara  filmad 
baglnning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
th^  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  lllustratad  impras- 
sion,  or  tha  bacic  covar  whan  approprlata.  All 
othar  original  copias  ara  filmad  baglnning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  lllustratad  impras- 
sion,  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  lllustratad  imprassion. 


Tha  last  racordad  frama  on  aach  microficha 
shall  contain  tha  aymbol  — ^-  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  aymbol  ▼  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  appiiaa. 

Maps,  piatas,  charta,  ate,  may  ba  filmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratios.  Thosa  too  larga  to  ba 
antiraly  includad  in  ona  axposura  ara  filmad 
baglnning  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  cornar,  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  framas  as 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrams  illustrata  tha 
mathod: 


1 

2 

3 

L'axamplaira  film*  fut  raproduit  grica  A  la 
gAniroaitA  da: 

BibiiothAqua  nationala  du  Canada 


Las  imagas  suivantas  ont  At*  raproduitas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattatA  da  l'axamplaira  film*,  at  9n 
conformity  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 

Las  axamplairas  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  •n 
papiar  aat  ImprimAa  sont  filmAs  an  commandant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'impraaaion  ou  d'illuatration,  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Toua  las  autras  axamplairas 
originaux  sont  filmte  an  commandant  par  la 
pramlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'iliustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 

Un  das  symbolas  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
darnlAra  imaga  da  chaqua  microficha.  salon  la 
cas:  la  aymbola  — ►  aignifia  "A  SUIVRE",  la 
symbols  V  signifia  "FIN". 

Las  cartas,  plan  ^has,  tablaaux,  ate.  pauvant  itra 
filmte  A  das  taux  da  reduction  diff^rants. 
Lorsqua  la  documant  ast  trop  grand  pour  itra 
raproduit  an  un  saul  clichi,  11  ast  film*  A  partir 
da  I'angia  supiriaur  gaucha,  da  gaucha  A  droita, 
at  da  haut  an  bas,  9n  pranant  la  nombra 
d'imagas  nicassaira.  Las  diagrammas  suivants 
illustrant  la  mithoda. 


32X 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

u 


^^'•^ 


o. 


^ 


•^ 


>i,'-^* 


CANADA 


NATIONAL  LIBRARY 
BIBLIOTHtoUE  NATIONALE 


7)*f- 


I^ 


uatacombs  of  t\ome 

AND  THEIR 

TESTIMONY   RELATIVE   TO    PRIMITIVE 

CHRISTIANITY. 

BY    THE 

REV.    W.    H.    WITHKUW,    M.A. 


rKKJEQITR    ADVKRSUS  VNIVER8AH   IliKKRflRS  JAM    IllJfO  PR/CJUDirATUM   HIT;   ID   MAS 
TEKUM,  QfOUOUNQirK  PRIMUM',   ID  IC8SB  ADl'LTKRUM.  QCODCirNQCR  P08TRRIUS. 

— Tbbtullxan,  adv.  Praweoti. 


♦>» 


NEW   YORK: 
NELSON     &    PHILLIPS. 

CINCINNATI:    HITCHCOCK  4  WALDKN. 

1874. 

[Ai.L  RtoHTt)  Rbskrvro.I 


7^1^ 


202370 


Entered  aooording  to  Aofc  of  Con^rress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

NELSON  ds   PHILLIPS, 
ill  the  Offic«  of  the  Librmrian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


TO  TH« 

REV.    JOHN     M^CAUL,    LL.D., 

PRESIDENT  OF  UNIVERSITY  COLLKHR, 

TORONTO,      CANADA, 

ONE  OF   Tilt:   MOST   EMINENT   OF  LIVINU    KPIGRAIMIISTS  : 

IN   ADMIRATION   OF 

HIS    DISTINGUISHED    SCHOI.ARSHir, 

AND 

AS   A  TRIBUTE  OF  PERSONAL   ESTEEM, 

IS    RESPECTFULLY    DEDICATED 


BV   THE  AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


-♦••»- 


The  present  work,  it  is  hoped,  will  supply  a  want  long 
ftlt  in  the  literature  of  the  Catacombs.  That  litera- 
ture, it  is  true,  is  very  voluminous ;  but  it  is  for  the 
most  part  locked  up  in  rare  and  costly  folios  in  foreign 
languages,  and  inaccessible  to  the  general  reader. 
Recent  discoveries  have  refuted  some  of  the  theories 
and  corrected  many  of  the  statements  of  previous 
books  in  English  on  this  subject ;  and  the  present  vol- 
ume is  the  only  one  in  which  the  latest  results  of 
exploration  are  fully  given,  and  interpreted  from  a 
Protestant  point  of  view. 

The  writer  has  endeavored  to  illustrate  the  subject 
by  frequent  pagan  sepulchral  inscriptions,  and  by 
citations  from  the  writings  of  the  Fathers,  which 
often  throw  much  light  on  the  condition  of  early 
Christian  society.  The  value  of  the  work  is  greatly 
enhanced,  it  is  thought,  by  the  addition  of  many 
hundreds  of  early  Christian  inscriptions  carefully 
translated,  a  very  large  proportion  of  which  have 
never  before  appeared  in  English.  Those  only  who 
have  given  some  attention  to  epigraphical  studies  can 
conceive  the  difficulty  of  this  partof  the  work.  The  de- 
facements of  time,  and  frequently  the  original  imper- 
fection of  the  inscriptions  and  the  ignorance  of  their 


6  Preface. 

writers,  demand  the  utmost  carefulness  to  avoid  errors 
of  interpretation.  The  writer  has  been  fortunate  in 
being  assisted  by  the  veteran  scholarship  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  McCaul,  well  known  in  both  Europe  and 
America  as  one  of  the  highest  living  authorities  in 
epigraphical  science,  under  whose  critical  revision 
most  of  the  translations  have  passed.  Through  the 
enterprise  of  the  publishers  this  work  is  more  copi- 
ously illustrated,  from  original  and  other  sources,  than 
any  other  work  on  the  subject  in  the  language  ;  thus 
giving  more  correct  and  vivid  impressions  of  the  un- 
familiar scenes  and  objects  delineated  than  is  possi- 
ble by  any  mere  verbal  description.  References  are 
given,  in  the  foot-notes,  to  the  principal  authorities 
quoted,  but  specific  acknowledgment  should  here  be 
made  of  the  author's  indebtedness  to  the  Cavaliere 
De  Rossi's  Roma  Sotterranea  and  Inscriptiones  Chris- 
tiatuB,  by  far  the  most  important  works  on  this  fas- 
cinating but  difficult  subject. 

Believing  that  the  testimony  of  the  Catacombs 
exhibits,  more  strikingly  than  any  other  evidence,  the 
immense  contrast  between  primitive  Christianity  and 
modern  Romanism,  the  author  thinks  no  apology 
necessary  for  the  somewhat  polemical  character  of 
portions  of  this  book  which  illustrate  that  fact.  He 
trusts  that  it  will  be  found  a  contribution  of  some 
value  to  the  historical  defense  of  the  truth  against 
the  corruptions  and  innovations  of  Popish  error. 
Nkw  York,  1874. 


CONTENTS. 


THE  STRUCTURE  AND  HISTORY  OF  THE  CATACOMBS. 

CHArTIB  Pa«b 

I.  The  Structure  op  the  Catacombs > 1 1 

n.  The  Origin  and  Early  History  op  thb  Catacombs.  49 

III.  Thf  Disuse  and  Abandonment  op  the  Catacombs.  120 

IV.  The  Rediscovery  and  Exploration  op  the  Cata- 

combs 150 

V.  The  PuMaPAi.  Catacombs. 164 


Sooh  <Seton)r. 

THE  ART  AND  SYMBOLISM  OF  THE  CATACOMBS. 

I.  Early  Christian  Art aoj 

II.  The  Symbolism  op  the  Catacombs 335 

III.  The  Biblical  Paintings  op  the  Catacombs 283 

IV.  Objects  pound  in  the  Catacombs 363 


S00h   Cl^irb. 

THE  INSCRIPTIONS  OF  THE  CATACOMBS. 

I.  General  Character  op  the  Inscriptions 395 

II.  The  Doctrinal  Teachings  op  the  Inscriptions...    415 

III.  Early  Christian  Life  and  Character  as  read  in 

THE  Catacombs 453 

IV.  Ministry,  Rites,  and  Institutions  of  the  Primitive 

Church  as  Indicated  in  the  Catacomhs 506 


UST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


I.  Entrance  to  Catacomb  of 
St.  Priscilla 

a.  Entrance  to  Catacomb  of 
St.  Praetextatus 

3.  Part  of    Callixtan   Cata- 

comb   

4.  Gallery  with  Tombs 

5.  Interior  of  Corridor 

6.  Loculi — Open  and  Closed 

7.  Tomb  of  Valeria 

8.  Arcosolium    with   Perfo- 

rated Slab 

9.  Plan  of  Double  Chamber. 
XO.  Section  of   Gallerr    and 

Cubicula 

XI.  Suite  of  Chambers 

xa.  Vaulted    Chamber    with 

Columns 

X3.  Cubiculum  with  Arcoso- 

lia 

X4.  Section  of  Catacomb  of 

Callixtus 

15.  Cubicula  with  Lnminare. 

16.  Gallery  in  St.  Hermes  . 

17.  Part  of  Wall  of  Gallery 

in  St.  Hermes 

18.  Slab  in  Jewish  Catacomb. 

19.  Epitaph  of  Martyrus.. . . 

20.  Reputed  Martyr  Symbol. 
ax.  Epitaph    of   Lannus,    a 

Martyr 

aa.  Secret  Stairway  in  Cata- 
comb of  Callixtus. . . . 

a3.  Diogenes  the  Fossor. . . . 

34.  Fossor  at  Work 


la   a6. 


16 

17 
18 
20 

23 
24 


27. 
a8. 

29- 
30. 


25 ,  31. 


26 

27 
a8 

29 

30 

32 
35 
42 

42 

66 
77 

98 

lOI 

133 
134 


32. 
3.1- 
34- 

35- 

36. 

37. 
38. 

39. 
40. 

41- 

42. 
43- 


45. 
46. 

47. 

48. 

49- 


Tombs  on  Appian  Way.  165 
Plan  of  Area  in  Callixtan 

Catacomb 171 

Plan  of  Crypt  of  St.  Peter 

and  St.  Paul 187 

Crypt  of  St.  Peter  and  St. 

Paul 188 

Section   of  Catacomb  of 

Helena 191 

Entrance  to  Catacomb  of 

St.  Agnes 195 

Mithraic  Painting 216 

Leaf  Point 227 

Phonetic  Symbol — Leo..  229 
Phonetic    Symbol — Por- 

cella 330 

Phonetic     Symbol — Na- 

bira 230 

Wool-comber's  Imple- 
ments   231 

Carpenter's  Implements.  231 
Vine  Dresser's  Tomb . . .  232 

Symbolical  Anchor 234 

S}'mbolical  Ship 235 

Symbolical      Palm    and 

Crown 236 

Symbolical  Doves 237 

Symbolical  Dove 238 

Doves  and  Vase 238 

Locus  Primi 238 

Symbolical  Peacock....  240 
The  Good  Shepherd. . . .  a45 
Good      Shepherd     with 

Syrinx 346 

Symbolical  Lamb 249 


List  of  lUustratioHS. 


rta.  P««e 

50.  Symlxilical  Fish 255 

51.  Symbolical  Fish 356 

52.  Fish  and  Anchor 256 

53.  Fish  and  Dove 256 

54.  Eucharistic  Symbol 256 

55.  Constantinian  Monogram  265 

56.  Early  Christian  Seal. . . .  266 

57.  Various  Forms  of  Mono- 

gram    267 

58.  Epitaph  of  Tasaris 267 

59.  Opi>tliographse 26S 

60.  Early  Christian  Seal. . . .  270 

61.  Monogram  and  Cross. . .  270 
"62.  The  Temptation  and  Fall  284 

63.  Adam  and  Eve  Receiving 

their  Sentence 285 

64.  Noah  in  the  Ark 286 

65.  Noah  in  the  Ark. ...      .  287 

66.  Noah   in   the   Ark,  from 

Sarcophagus 28  7 

67.  Apamean   Medal 288 

68.  Sacrifice  of  Isaac 289 

69.  Sacrifice  of  Isaac 289 

70.  Moses  on  Moreb 290 

71.  Moses  Receiving  the  Law  290 

72.  Moses  and  the  Baskets  of 

Manna 291 

73.  Moses  Striking  the  Rock  291 

74.  Moses  Striking  the  Rock  291 

75.  The  Sufferings  of  Job. . .  293 

76.  Ascension  of  Elijah 295 

77.  The  Three  Hebrew  Chil- 

dren 

78.  The  Three  Hebrew  Chil- 

dren 

79.  The  Three  Hebrew  Chil- 

dren   

80.  Daniel  in  the  Lions'  Den 

81.  The  Story  of  Jonah 300 

82.  Jonah,  Moses,  and  Oranti  301 

83.  Jonah  and  the  Great  Fish.  302 

84.  Noah  and  Jonah 302 


296 
297 

298 
299 


85.  Jonah's  (iourd 304 

86.  Adoration  of  Magi 305 

87.  Adoration  of  Magi. . . .  3tjO 

88.  Orante y^) 

89.  Supposed  Madonna  ...   311 

90.  Earliest  Madonna 312 

91.  Christ  with  the  Doctors.  324 

92.  Christ  and  the  Woman 

of  Samaria 3^5 

93.  Paralytic  Carrying  Bed.   325 

94.  Woman  with   Issue    of 

Blood    326 

95.  Miracle  of  I^oaves   and 

Fishes 327 

96.  Opening  the  Eyes  of  the 

Blind 327 

97.  Christ  Blessing  a  Little 

Child 328 

98.  Lazarus  (rude) 330 

99.  Lazarus  (in  fresco) 330 

100.  Lazarus  (in  relief) 331 

loi.  Christ's  Entry  into  Jeru- 
salem     331 

102.  Peter's  Denial  of  Christ .   332 

103.  Pilate      Washing       his 

Hands. 333 

104.  Sculptured  Sarcophagus  334 

105.  Painted  Chamber 339 

106.  Oldest  Extant  Head  of 

Christ  (mosaic) 347 

107.  God  Symbolized    by   a 

Hand 356 

108.  God  as  Pope 359 

109.  Domestic  Group  in  Gilt 

Glass 366 

no.  Reputed  Martyr  Relic.  371 

111.  Reputed    Martyr  Sym- 

bol    374 

112.  Symbolical  Lamp 377 

113.  Symlxilical  Lamp 378 

114.  Vases   from    the   Cata- 

combs  381 


10 


List  of  Illustrations. 


FHr.  Page 
115.  Amphora  from  the  Cat- 
acombs   382 

X16.  Earthen  and  Metal  Ves- 
sels  383 

117.  Early  Christian  Ring..  385 
\iZ.  Early  Christian  Seal...   385 

119.  Impressions  of  Seals. . .  386 

120.  Children's  Toys 387 

X2I.  Statue  of  Good   Shep- 
herd   390 

122.  Epitaph  of  Gemella. . .  401 

123.  Epitaph    of     Ligurius 

Successus 402 


Pl«.  Pace 

124.  Epitaph  of  Domitins. .  402 

125.  Epitaph  Inverted 404 

126.  Epitaph  Reversed 404 

127.  Epitaph  of  Cassia 405 

128.  Triple  Epitaph 405 

129.  Belicia 500 

130.  Chamber  with  Catechu- 

mens' Seats. 531 

131.  Baptismal  Font 537 

132.  Baptism  of  Our  Lord. .  538 

133.  Baptismal  Scene 539 

134.  Fresco  of  Early  Chris- 

tian Agape 546 


THE 


CATACOMBS  OF  ROME. 


■^•««»- 


'    BOOK  FIRST. 

STRUCTURE  AND  HISTORY  OF  THE  CATACOMBS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


STRUCTURE  OF  THE  CATACOMBS. 

"  Among  the  cultivated  grounds  not  far  from  the  city 
of  Rome,"  says  the  Christicip  poet  Prudentius,  "  lies  a 
deep  crypt,  with  dark  recesses.  A  descending  path, 
with  winding  steps,  leads  through  the  dim  turnings, 
and  the  daylight,  entering  by  the  mouth  of  the  cavern, 
somewhat  illumines  the  first  part  of  the  way.  But  the 
darkness  grows  deeper  as  we  advance,  till  we  meet  with 
openings,  cut  in  the  roof  of  the  passages,  admitting  light 
from  above.  On  all  sides  spreads  the  densely-woven 
labyrinth  of  paths,  branching  into  caverned  chapels  and 
sepulchral  halls ;  and  throughout  the  subterranean  maze, 
through  frequent  openings,  penetrates  the  light."  * 

•  Haud  procul  extremo  culta  ad  pomoeria  vzDo, 

Mersa  latebrosts  crypta  patet  foveis.  .  .  . — Peristephanofif  iv. 

The  origin  of  the  word  Catacombs  is  exceedingly  obscure.  Father 
Marchi  derives  it  from  Kara,  down,  and  rvfiPo^,  a  tomb ;  or  from  Kara 
and  Koifidu,  to  sleep.  Mommsen  thinks  it  comes  from  Kara  and 
eumio,  part  of  deaimbo^  to  lie  down.     According  to  Schneider  {Lex. 


13 


The  Catixcombs  of  Rome. 


Pig,  1.— Entranca  to  the  Cataromb  of  St.  Priscilla. 

This  description  of  the  Catacombs  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury is  equally  applicable  to  their  general  appearance  in 
the  nineteenth.  Their  main  features  are  unchanged, 
although  time  and  decay  have  greatly  impaired  their 
structure  and  defaced  their  beauty.  These  Christian 
cemeteries  are  situated  chiefly  near  the  great  roads 
leading  from  the  city,  and,  for  the  most  part,  within  a 
circle  of  three  miles  from  the  walls.  From  this  circum- 
stance they  have  been  compared  to  the  "  encampment 
of  a  Christian  host  besieging  Pagan  Rome,  and  driving 
inward  its  mines  and    trenches  with  an  assurance  of 


Greek.)  it  is  derived  from  Kara  and  KVfiQrj,  a  boat  or  canoe,  from  the 
resemblance  of  a  sarcophagus  to  that  object.  The  more  probable 
derivation  seems  to  the  present  writer  to  be  from  Kara  and  kv/xjSo^,  a 
hollow,  as  if  descriptive  of  a  subterranean  excavation.  The  name 
was  first  given  in  the  sixth  century  to  a  limiced  area  beneath  the 
Church  of  St.  Sebastian  :  ^*  Locus  qui  dicitnr  catacumbasy — S.  Greg., 
Opp.f  tom.  ii,  ep.  30.  It  was  afterward  generically  applied  to  all  sub- 
terranean places  of  sepulture.  The  earliest  writers  who  mention 
those  of  Rome  call  them  crypttr,  or  crypts,  or  c^tnteteria  —  whence  our 
word  cemetery,  literally,  sleeping  places,  from  kui/xuu,  to  slumber. 
Similar  excavations  have  been  found  in  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  Cyprus, 
Crete,  the  iEgean  Isles,  Greece,  Sicily,  Naples,  Malta,  and  France. 


Their  Structure. 


13 


|s  r^,  »» 


final  victory."  The  openings  of  the  Catacombs  are 
scattered  over  the  Campagna,  whose  mournful  desolation 
surrounds  the  city ;  often  among  the  mouldering  mau- 
solea  that  rise,  like  stranded  wrecks,  above  the  rolling 
sea  of  verdure  of  the  tomb-abounding  plain.*  On 
every  side  are  tombs — tombs  above  and  tombs  be- 
low— the  graves  of  contending  races,  the  sepulchres 
of  vanished  generations :  ^^Piena  di  sepoltura  e  la  Cam- 
pagnar\ 

How  marvelous"  that  beneath  the  remains  of  a  proud 
pagan  civilization  exist  the  early  monuments  of  that 
power  before  which  the  myths  of  paganism  faded  away  as 
the  spectres  of  darkness  before  the  rising  sun,  and  by 
which  the  religion  and  institutions  of  Rome  were  entirely 
changed. t  Beneath  the  ruined  palaces  and  temples,  the 
crumbling  tombs  and  dismantled  villas,  of  the  august 
mistress  of  the  world,  we  find  the  most  interesting  relics 
of  early  Christianity  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  In  trav- 
ersing these  tangled  labyrinths  we  are  brought  face 
to  face  with  the  primitive  ages;  we  are  present  at 
the  worship  of  the  infant  Church ;  we  observe  its  rites ; 
we  study  its  institutions ;  we  witness  the  deep  emotions 
of  the  first  believers  as  they  commit  their  dead,  often 

*  These  great  roads  for  miles  are  lined  with  the  sepulchral  monu- 
ments of  Rome's  mighty  dead,  majestic  even  in  decay.  But  only  the 
wealthy  could  be  entombed  in  those  stately  mausolea,  or  be  wrapped 
in  those  "marble  cerements."  For  the  mass  of  the  population  co- 
lumbaria were  provided,  in  whose  narrow  niches,  like  the  compart- 
ments of  a  dove-cote  —  whence  the  name  —  the  terra  cotta  urns  con- 
taining their  ashes  were  placed,  sometimes  to  the  number  of  six  thou- 
sand in  a  single  coltimbarium.  They  also  contain  sometimes  the 
urns  of  the  great. 

t  Ariosto,  Orlando  Furioso. 

X  Aringhi,  in  the  elegant  Latin  ode  prefixed  to  his  great  work,  ex- 
claims, ♦•  Sub  Roma  Romam  qwtrito^^ — Beneath  Rome  I  seek  the 
true  Rome. 


14 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


their  martyred  dead,  to  their  last  long  resting-place ;  we 
decipher  the   touching   record  of  their  sorrow,  of  the 
holy  hopes  by  which  they  were  sustained,  of  "  their  faith 
triumphant  o'er  their  fears,"  and  of  their  assurance  of 
the  resurrection  of  the   dead  and  the  life  everlasting. 
We  read    in    the    testimony    of   the    Catacombs    the 
confession  of  faith  of  the  early  Christians,  sometimes 
accompanied  by  the  records  of  their  persecution,  the 
S3rmbols  of  their  martyrdom,  and  even  the  very  instru- 
ments of  their  torture.     For  in  these  halls  of  silence 
and  gloom  slumbers  the  dust  of  many  of  the  martyrs 
and  confessors,  who  sealed  their  testimony  with  their 
blood  dimng  the  sanguinary  ages  of  persecution ;  of 
many  of  the  early  bishops  and  pastors  of  the  Church, 
who  shepherded  the  flock  of  Christ  amid  the  dangers  of 
those  troublous  times ;  of  many  who  heard  the  words 
of  life  from  teachers  who  lived  in  or  near  the  apostolic 
age,  perhaps  from  the  lips  of  the  apostles  themselves. 
Indeed,  if  we  would  accept  ancient  tradition,  we  would 
even  believe  that  the  bodies  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul 
were  laid  to  rest  in  those  hallowed  crypts — a  true  terra 
sancta,  inferior  in  sacred  interest  only  to  that  roclfr-hewn 
sepulchre  consecrated    evermore  by  the  body  of  Our 
Lord.     These  reflections  will  lend  to  the  study  of  the 
Catacombs   an   interest   of    the   highest   and  intensest 
character. 

It  is  impossible  to  discover  with  exactness  the  extent 
of  this  vast  necropolis  on  account  of  the  number  and 
intricacy  of  its  tangled  passages.  That  extent  has 
been  greatly  exaggerated,  however,  by  the  monkish 
ciceroni^  who  guide  visitors  through  these  subterranean 
labyrinths.*    There  are  some  forty-two  of  these  ceme- 

*  Even  so  accurate  and  philosophical  a  writer  as  the  1p**  Professor 
Stir.man  reports  on  their  authority  that  the  Catacombs  extend  twenty 


Their  Structure, 


15 


teries  in  all  now  known,  many  of  which  are  only  par- 
tially accessible.  Signor  Michele  De  Rossi,  from  an 
accurate  survey  of  the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus,  computes 
the  entire  length  of  all  the  passages  to  be  eight  hundred 
and  seventy-six  thousand  metres^  or  five  hundred  and 
eighty-seven  geographical  miles,  equal  to  the  entire 
length  of  Italy,  from  Etna's  fires  to  the  Alpine  snows. 

The  entrance  to  the  abandoned  Catacomb  is  some- 
times a  low-browed  aperture  like  a  fox's  burrow,  almost 
concealed  by  long  and  tangled  grass,  and  overshadowed 
by  the  melancholy  cypress  or  gray-leaved  ilex.  Some- 
times an  ancient  arch  can  be  discerned,  as  at  the  Cata- 
comb of  St.  Priscilla,*  or  the  remains  of  the  chamber  for 
the  celebration  of  the  festivals  of  the  martyrs,  as  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Cemetery  of  St.  Domitilla.  In  a  few  in- 
stances it  is  through  the  crypts  of  an  ancient  basilica,  a*? 
at  St.  Sebastian,  and  sometimes  a  little  shrine  or  oratory 
covers  the  descent,  as  at  St.  Agnes,  t  St.  Helena,  X  and 
St.  Cyriaca.  In  all  cases  there  is  a  stairway,  often 
long  and  steep,  crumbling  with  time  and  worn  with  the 
feet  of  pious  generations.  The  following  illustration 
shows  the  entrance  to  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Praetextatus 
on  the  Appian  Way,  trodden  in  the  primitive  ages  by  the 
early  martyrs  and  confessors,  or  perhaps  by  the  armed  sol- 
diery of  the  oppressors,  hunting  to  earth  the  persecuted 
flock   of  Christ.     Here,  too,   in    mediaeval   times,  the 


miles,  to  the  port  of  Ostia,  in  one  direction,  and  to  Albano,  twelve 
miles,  in  another.  Visit  to  Europe,  vol.  i,  p.  329.  This  is  impossible, 
as  will  be  shown,  on  account  of  the  undulation  of  the  ground,  and  the 
limited  area  of  the  volcanic  tu/a  in  which  alone  they  can  be  excavated. 
The  number  of  distinct  Catacombs  has  also  been  magnified  to  sixty ; 
and  Father  Marchi  estimated  the  aggregate  length  of  passages  to  be 
nine  hundred  miles. 

*  Fig.  I.  f  Fig.  30.  X  F»B-  29. 


I« 


Tlu  Catarambs  of  Koine. 


L'   I 


martial  clang 
of  the  armed 
knight  may  have 
awaked  unwont- 
ed echoes  among 
the  hollow  arch- 
es, or  the  glid- 
ing footstep  of 
the  sandaled 
monk  scarce  dis- 
turbed the  si- 
lence as  he 
passed.  In  later 
times  pilgrims 
from  every  land 
have  visited, 
with  pious  rever- 
ence or  idle  curi- 
osity, this  early 
shrine  of  the 
Christian  faith. 

The  Cata- 
combs are  exca- 
abounds    in    the 


Fiff.  2.— BntriMioe  to  St.  Pneteztatus. 

vated  in  the  volcanic  rock  which 
neighborhood  of  Rome.  It  is  a  granulated,  grayish 
breccia^  or  tufa^  as  it  is  called,  of  a  coarse,  loose  text- 
ure, easily  cut  with  a  knife,  and  bearing  still  the 
marks  of  the  mattocks  with  which  it  was  dug.  In 
the  firmer  volcanic  rock  of  Naples  the  excavations 
are  larger  and  loftier  than  those  of  Rome;  but  the 
latter,  although  they  have  less  of  apparent  majesty, 
have  more  of  funereal  mystery.  The  Catacombs  con- 
sist essentially  of  two  parts — corridors  and  chambers,  or 
cubiciila.  The  corridors  are  long,  narrow  and  intricate  pas- 


TUcir  Structure. 


17 


sages,  forming  a  complete  underground  net-work. 
They  are  for  the  most  part  straight,  and  intersect  each 
other  at  approximate  right  angles.     The  accompanying 


Pig.  3.— Part  of  Cataxx>mb  of  Callixtus. 

map  of  part  of  the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus  will  indicate 
the  general  plan  of  these  subterranean  galleries. 

The  main  corridors  vary  from  three  to  five  feet  in 
width,  but  the  lateral  passages  are  much  narrower,  often 


IS 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


affording  room  for  but  one  person  to  pass.  They  will 
average  about  eignt  feet  in  height,  though  in  some  places 
as  low  as  five  or  six,  and  in  others,  under  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances, reaching  to  twelve  or  fifteen  feet.  The 
ceiling  is  generally  vaulted,  though  sometimes  flat ;  and 
the  floor,  though  for  the  most  part  level,  has  occasionally 
a  slight  incline,  or  even  a  few  steps,  caused  by  the  junc- 


Pigr,  4.— Gallery  with  Tombs, 
tion  of  areas  of  different  levels,  as  hereafter  explained. 
The  walls  are  generally  of  the  naked  ////a.  though  some- 
times plastered;  and  wheie  they  have  given  way  are 
occasionally  strengthened  with  masonry.  At  the  cor- 
ners of  these  passages  there  are  frequently  niches,  in 


Their  Structure. 


»9 


which  lamps  were  placed,  without  which,  indeed,  the 
('.itacombs  must  have  been  an  impenetrable  labyrinth. 
Cardinal  Wiseman  recounts  a  touching  legend  of  a 
young  girl  who  was  employed  as  a  guide  to  the  places 
of  worship  in  the  Catacombs  because,  on  account 
of  her  blindness,  their  sombre  avenues  were  a»  famil- 
iar to  her  accustomed  feet  as  the  streets  of  Rome  to 
others. 

Both  sides  of  the  corridors  are  thickly  lined  with 
loculi  or  graves,  which  have  somewhat  the  appearance 
of  berths  in  a  ship,  or  of  the  shelves  in  a  grocer's  shop ; 
but  the  contents  are  the  bones  and  ashes  of  the  dead, 
and  for  labels  we  have  their  epitaphs.  Figure  4  will  illus- 
trate the  general  character  of  these  galleries  and  loculi. 

The  following  engraving,  after  a  sketch  by  Maitland, 
shows  a  gallery  wider  and  more  rudely  excavated.  On 
the  right  hand  is  seen  a  passage  blocked  up  with  stones, 
as  was  frequently  done,  to  prevent  accident.  The  day- 
light is  seen  pouring  in  at  the  further  end  of  the  gallery, 
as  described  by  Prudentius,*  and  rendering  visible  the 
rifled  graves. 

It  is  evident  that  the  principle  followed  in  the  forma- 
tion of  these  galleries  and  loculi  was  the  securing  of  the 
greatest  amount  of  space  for  graves  with  the  least  ex- 
cavation. Hence  the  passages  are  made  as  narrow  as 
possible.  The  graves  are  also  as  close  together  as  the  fri- 
able nature  of  the  tufa  will  permit,  and  are  made  to  suit 
the  shape  of  the  body,  narrow  at  the  feet,  broader  at 
the  shoulders,  and  often  with  a  semi-circular  excavation 
for  the  head,  so  as  to  avoid  any  superfluous  removal  of 
lufa.  Sometimes  the  loculi  were  made  large  enough  to 
hold  two,  three,  or  even  four  bodies,  which  were  often 

*  Primas  namque  fores  summo  tenus  infrat  hiatu 

lUustratque  dies  !imina  vestibuU. — Peristephanon^  ii. 


20 


Tlic  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


Piir.  5.— Interior  of  Corridor. 


placed  with  the  head  of  one  toward  the  feet  of  the 
other,  in  order  to  economize  space..  These  were  called 
bisomi^  trisomi^  and  qiiadrisomi^  respectively.  I'he 
graves  were  apparently  made  as  required,  probably  with 
the  corpse  lying  beside  them,  as  some  unexcavated  spaces 
have  been  observed  traced  in  outline  with  chalk  or  paint 
upon  the  walls.  Almost  every  inch  of  available  space 
is  occupied,  and  sometimes,  though  rarely,  graves  are 


Their  Structure. 


at 


dug  in  the  floor.  The  toculi  are  of  all  sizes,  from  that 
of  the  infant  of  an  hour  to  that  of  an  adult  man.  But 
here,  as  in  every  place  of  burial,  the  vast  preponderance 
of  children's  graves  is  striking.  How  many  blighted 
buds  there  are  for  every  full-blown  flower  or  ripened  fruit ! 
Sometimes  the  locuii  were  excavated  with  mathemat- 
ical precision.  An  example  occurs  in  the  Cemetery  of 
St.  Cyriaca,  where  at  one  end  of  a  gallery  is  a  tier  of 
eight  small  graves  for  infants,  then  eight,  somewhat 
larger,  for  children  from  about  seven  to  twelve,  then  seven 
more,  apparently  for  adult  females,  and  lastly,  a  tier  of 
six  for  full-grown  men,  occupying  the  entire  height  of 
the  wall.  Generally,  however,  a  less  regular  arrange- 
ment was  observed,  and  the  graves  of  the  young  and  old 
were  intermixed,  without  any  definite  order. 
.  It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  compute  the  num- 
ber of  graves  in  these  vas<  cemeteries.  Some  seventy 
thousand  have  been  counte  1,  but  they  are  a  mere  frac- 
tion of  the  whole,  as  only  a  small  part  of  this  great  ne- 
cropolis has  been  explored.  From  lengthened  observa- 
tion Father  Marchi  estimates  the  average  number  of 
graves  to  be  ten,  five  on  each  side,  for  every  seven  feet 
of  gallery.  Upon  this  basis  he  computed  the  entire 
number  in  the  Catacombs  to  be  seven  millions !  The 
more  accurate  estimate  of  their  extent  made  by  Sig. 
Michele  De  Rossi  would  allow  room  for  nearly  four  mill- 
ions of  graves,  or,  more  exactly,  about  three  million 
eight  hundred  and  thirty-one  thousand.*     This  seems 

*  In  the  single  crypt  of  St.  Lucina,  one  hundred  feet  by  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty,  De  Rossi  counted  over  seven  hundred  locuii,  and  esti- 
mated that  nearly  twice  as  many  were  destroyed,  giving  a  total  of 
two  thousand  graves  in  this  area.  The  same  space,  with  our  mode 
of  interment,  would  not  accommodate  over  half  the  number,  even 
though  placed  as  close  together  as  possible,  without  any  room  for 
passages. 


22 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\ 


almost  incredible;  Init  we  know  that  for  at  least  three 
hundred  years,  or  for  ten  generations,  the  entire  C'hris- 
tian  population  of  Rome  was  buried  here.  And  that 
population,  as  we  shall  see,  was,  even  at  an  early  perio<l, 
of  considerable  size.  In  the  time  of  persecution,  too, 
the  Christians  were  hurried  to  the  tomb  in  crowds.  In 
this  silent  city  of  the  dead  we  are  surrounded  by  a 
"mighty  cloud  of  witnesses,"  "a  multitude  which  no 
man  can  number,"  whose  names,  unrecorded  on  earth, 
are  written  in  the  B<x)k  of  Life.  For  every  one  who 
walks  the  streets  of  Rome  to-day  are  hundreds  of  its 
former  inhabitants  calmly  sleeping  in  this  vast  encamp- 
ment of  death  around  its  walls — "each  in  his  narrow 
cell  forever  laid."*  Till  the  archangel  awake  them 
they  slumber.  "  It  is  scarcely  known,"  says  Prudentius, 
"  how  full  Rome  is  of  buried  saints  —  how  richly  her  soil, 
abounds  in  holy  sepulchres." 

These  graves  were  once  all  hermetically  sealed  by 
slabs  of  marble,  or  tiles  of  terra  cotta.  The  former  were 
generally  of  one  piece,  which  fitted  into  a  groove  or 
mortice  cut  in  the  rock  at  the  grave's  mouth,  and  were 
securely  cemented  to  their  places,  as,  indeed,  was  abso- 
lutely necessary,  from  the  open  character  of  the  galleries 
in  which  the  graves  were  placed.  Sometimes  fragments 
of  heathen  tombstones  or  altars  were  used  for  this 
purpose.  The  tiles  were  generally  smaller,  two  or 
three  being  retjuired  for  an  adult  grave.  They  were 
arranged  in  panels,  and  were  cemented  with  plaster,  on 
which  a  name  or  symbol  was  often  rudely  scratched  with 
a  trowel  while  soft,  as  in  the  following  illustration.     Most 

*  Compare  Bryant's  Thanatopsis  : 

"  All  that  treacl 
The  glol)e  are  but  a  handful  to  the  tribes 
That  slumber  in  its  bosom.'* 


Tli€ir  Structure. 


23 


of  these  slabs  and  tiles  have  disappeared,  and  many  of 
the  graves  have  long  been  rifled  of  their  contents.  In 
others  may  still  be  seen  the  mouldering  skeleton  of  what 
was  onre  man  in  his  strength,  woman  in  her  beauty,  or 
a  child  in  its  innocence  and  glee.  The  annexed  engrav- 
ing exhibits  two  graves,  one  of  which  is  partially  open, 
ex|)osing  the  skeleton  which  has  reposed  on  its  rocky 
bed  for  probably  over  fifteen  centuries. 


lJJ:ji^I!I1I!|i2^     ..^^^t:33SAi!!!l^^ 


Fifir.  6.— Loculi— Open  and  Closed. 

If  these  bones  be  touched  they  will  generally  crumble 
into  a  white,  flaky  powder,  D'Agincourt  copied  a  tomb 
(Fig.  7)  in  which  this  "  dry  dust  of  death  '*  still  retained 
the  outline  of  a  human  skeleton.  Verily,  ^^Pulvis  et 
umbra  sumus."  Sometimes,  however,  possibly  from  some 
constitutional  peculiarity,  the  bones  remain  quite  firm 
notwithstanding  the  lapse  of   so  many  centuries.     Dc 


24 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


Fiff.  7.— Valeria  Sleeps  in  Peace. 

Rossi  states  that  he  has  assisted  at  the  removal  of  a  body 
from  the  Catacombs  to  a  church  two  miles  distant  with- 
out the  displacement  of  a  single  bone.*  The  age  of  the 
deceased  and  the  nature  of  the  ground  also  affect  the 
condition  in  which  the  remains  are  found.  Of  the  bodies 
of  children  nothing  but  dust  remains.  Where  the  paz- 
zoiana  is  damp,  the  bones  are  often  well  preserved ;  and 
where  water  has  infiltrated,  a  partial  petrifaction  some- 
times occurs.f  Campana  describes  the  opening  of  a 
hermetically  sealed  sarcophagus,  which  revealed  the 
undisturbed  body  clad  in  funeral  robes,  and  wearing  the 
ornaments  of  life ;  but  while  he  gazed  it  suddenly  dis- 
solved to  dust  before  his  eyes.  Sometimes  the  sarcoph- 
agus was  placed  behind  a  perforated  slab  of  marble,  as 
shown  in  the  following  example,  given  by  Maitland. 
The  lower  part  of  the  slab  is  broken. 

The  other  essential  constituent  of  the  Catacombs, 
besides  the  galleries  already  describedj  consists  of  the 
cubiculaX     These  are  chambers  excavated  in  the  tufa 

*  Rotn.  Soti.,  ii,  127. 

t  D'Agincourt,  Histoire  de  tart  par  tes  Monumeus^  i,  2a 
\  Literally,  little  sleeping  chambers,  from  citb(\  I  lie  dowii.     The 
sai.ie  name  was  also  given  to  the  cells  for  meditation  and  prayer  at- 
tached to  the  Church  of  Nola.     Paulin.,  ep.  12,  ad  Sever, 


Their  Structure. 


2!', 


FiflT.  8.— ArooBoUum  with  Perforated  Slab. 


on  either  side  of  the  galleries,  with  which  they  commu- 
nicate by  doors,  as  seen  in  Fig.  4.  These  often  bear  the 
character  of  family  vaults,  and  are  lined  with  graves, 
like  the  corridors  without.  They  are  generally  square 
or  rectangular,  but  sometimes  octagonal  or  circular. 
They  were  probably  used  as  mortuary  chapels,  for  the 
celebration  of  funeral  service,  and  for  the  administra- 
tion of  the  eucharist  near  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs  on 
the  anniversaries  of  their  death.  They  were  too  small 
to  be  used  for  regular  worship,  except  perhaps  in  time 
of  persecution.  They  are  often  not  more  than  eight  or 
ten  feet  square.  Even  the  so-called  "  Papal  Crypt,"  a 
chamber  of  peculiar  sanctity,  is  only  eleven  by  fourteen 


26 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\ 


feet ;  and  that 
of  St.  Cecilia 
a  d  j  o  i  n  i  n  g  it, 
one  of  a  large 
size,  is  less  than 
twenty  feet 
square.  Even 
the  largest 
would  not  ac- 
commodate 
more  than  a 
few  dozen  per- 
s  o  n  s.  'i'hese 
chambers  are 
generally  fac- 
ing one  anoth- 
er on  opposite 
sides  of  a  gal- 
lery, as  in  the 
annexed  plan 
of  two  cubicula 
in  the  Cata- 
comb of  Cal- 
lixtus. 

It  is  thought 
that  in  the  cel- 
ebration  of 
worsh  ip  one 
of  these  chambers  was  designed  for  men  and  the  other 
for  women.  Sometimes  separate  passages  to  the  chapels 
and  distinct  entrances  to  the  Catacombs  seem  intended 
to  facilitate  this  separation  of  the  sexes.  Sometimes 
three,  or  even  as  many  as  five,  cubicula^  as  in  one  example 
in  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Agnes,  were  placed  on  the  same 


Figr.  9.— Plan  of  Double  Chamber. 


r    <i 


Their  Structure. 


27 


axial  line,  and  formed  one  conlinii- 
oiis  suite  of  chambers.  The  accom- 
panying section  of  what  is  known 
as  "  The  Chapel  of  Two  Halls,"  in 
the  Catacomb  of  St.  Praetextatus,  il- 
lustrates this  :  A  is  the  main  gallery. 

I)  a  large  cubiculum  known  as  "  The 
Women's  Hall,"  to  the  right,  and 
to  the  left  B,  a  hexagonal  vaulted 
room  with  a  smaller  chamber,  c^ 
opening  from  it.  The  length  of  the 
entire  range  from  G  to  f,  according 
to  the  accurate  measurement  of 
M.  Perret,  is  twenty-three  and  a 
half  mfttreSy  or  nearly  seventy-seven 
feet.     The   larger   engraving   (Fig. 

II)  gives  a  pierspective  view  look- 
ing toward  the  left  of  the  hexagonal 
chamber,(D.  Fig.  10,)  and  the  smaller 
one,  c,  opening  from  it  By  means 
of  these  connected  chambers  the 
Christians  were  enabled  in  times  of 
persecution  to  assemble  for  wor- 
ship in  these  "  dens  and  caves  of 
the  earth,"  surrounded  by  the  slum- 
bering bodies  of  the  holy  dead. 

The  cubicula  had  vaulted  roofs,  and  were  sen:  times 
plastered  or  cased  with  marble  and  paved  with  tiles,  or, 
though  rarely,  with  mosaic.  These,  however,  were  gen- 
erally additions  of  later  date  than  the  original  construc- 
tion, as  were  also  the  semi-detached  columns  in  the 
angles,  with  stucco  capitals  and  bases,  as  indicated  in 
Fig.  9,  and  shown  more  clearly  in  the  follov/ing  engrav- 
ing, which  is  a  perspective  view  of  the  lower  chamber 


28 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


Their  StnictHn\ 


29 


1 1 

111 

IJ 

1  \m 

Ml 

im 

iy<  1 

d 

n' 

m 

bo 

W^^^l 

0 

P^^H 

••^ 

u 

lift  ^^^H 

n 

Xi 

Iflit^^^^^^^l 

d 

IM^^^^^^H 

^ 

0 

u 

0 

^ 

0 

h^ 

Vi 

0 

0 

> 

■g 

0 

0. 

0 

^^^H  ^ 

^HhI   0 

!■ 

P4 

i 


Fiff.  12— Vaulted  Chamber  with  Columns. 

in  Fig.  9.  The  walls  and  ceiling  were  often  covered 
with  fresco  paintings,  frequently  of  elegant  design,  to  be 
hereafter  described.*  Sometimes,  as  in  some  examples 
in  the  Catacoml  of  St.  Agnes,  fu/a  or  marble  seats  are 
ranged  around  the  chamber,  and  chairs  are  hewa  out 
of  the  solid  rock.f  These  chambers  were  used  probably 
for  the  instruction  of  catechumens.  Occasionally  the 
cubiculum  terminates  in  a  semicircular  recess,  as  in  the 
upper  chamber  in  Fig.  9.  These  probably  gave  rioe  to 
the  apse  in  early  Christian  architecture,  of  which  a  good 
example  is  found  in  the  Church  of  St.  Clement,  one  of 
the  most  ancient  Christian  edifices  in  Rome.  Niches 
and  shelves  for  lamps,  an  absolute  necessity  in  the  per- 
petual darkness  that  there  reigns,  frequently  occur,  such 
as  may  be  seen  in  Italian  houses  to-day.  Without  the 
least  authority,  some  Roman  Catholic  writers  have  de- 

»  Book  II. 

\  See  Fig.  130  and  context,  where  the  entire  subject  is  discussed 


i 


30 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


scribed    these   as   closets   for    priestly   vestments   and 
shelves  for  pictures. 

A  peculiar  form  of  grave  common  in  these  chambers, 
as  well  as  in  the  galleries,  is  that  known  as  the  arcosolium^ 
or  arched  tomb.  It  consists  of  a  recess  in  the  wall, 
having  a  grave,  often  double  or  triple,  excavated  in  the 
tufa^  or  built  with  masonry,  like  a  solid  sarcophagus,  and 
closed  with  a  marble  slab.  These  are  seen  in  the  plan, 
Fig.  9,  in  the  section.  Fig.  10,  at  G  and  e  in  Fig. 
15,  and  in  perspective  in  Figs.  11  and  12.  Some- 
times the  recess  is  rectangular  instead  of  arched,  and 
is  then  called  by  De  Rossi  sepokro  a  fnensa,  or  table  tomb. 
vSometimes  the  arch  was  segmental,  especially  when 
constructed  of  masonry.*     An  example  of  both  sorts  is 


Pig.  13.— Cubiculum  with  Arcos3lia. 

seen  in  the  accompanying  engraving  of  a  cubiculum  in  the 
Catacomb  of  St.  Praetextatus.  The  narrow  door  into  the 
corridor  is  also  seen,  and  the  stucco  capitals  and  bases 
of  the  columns.     In  course  of  time  these  arcosolia  were 

*  See  in  the  Cemetery  of  St.  Helena,  Fig.  29. 


Their  Structure. 


l^ 


ments  and 


used  as  altars  for  the  celebration  of  the  eucharist,  and 
eventually  grave  abuses  arose  from  the  superstitious 
veneration  paid  to  the  relics  of  the  martyr  or  confessor 
interred  therein.  Frequently,  also,  the  back  of  this 
arched  recess  was  pierced  with  graves  of  a  later  date, 
often  directly  through  a  painting,*  in  order  to  obtain  a 
resting  place  near  the  bodies  of  the  saints. 

Hitherto  only  one  level  of  the  Catacombs  has  been 
described,  but  frequently  "beneath  this  depth  there 
is  a  lower  deep,"  or  even  three  or  four  tiers  of  galler- 
ies, excavated  as  the  upper  ones  became  filled  with 
graves.  Thus  there  are  sometimes  as  many  as  five 
stories,  or  piani^  as  they  are  called,  one  beneath  the 
other.  These  are  carefully  maintained  horizontal,  to 
avoid  breaking  through  the  floor  of  the  one  above  or 
the  roof  of  the  one  below,  the  danger  of  which  would 
be  very  great  if  the  strict  level  were  departed  from. 
For  the  same  reason  the  different  piani  were  generally 
separated  by  a  thick  stratum  of  solid  tufa.  The  rela- 
tive position  of  these  levels  is  shown  by  the  following 
engraving,  reduced  from  De  Rossi.  It  represents  a  sec- 
tion of  the  Crypt  of  St.  Lucina,  a  part  of  the  Ceme- 
tery of  Callixtus.  The  dark  colored  stratum,  marked  l 
in  the  margin,  is  entirely  made  up  of  the  debris  of  ancient 
monuments,  buildings,  and  other  materials  accumulated 
in  the  course  of  ages  in  this  place  to  the  depth  of  eight 
'"eet.  It  has  completely  buried  the  ancient  roads,  except 
where  excavated,  as  shown  in  the  engraving.  The  next 
stratum,  ii,  is  of  solid  grayish  tufa.  In  this  the  first  level 
or  piano^  <(>,  is  excavated.  It  is  not  more  than  twenty 
feet  below  the  surface,  and  in  many  places  only  half 
that  depth.  Consequently  its  area  is  comparatively  lim- 
ited, because  if  extended  it  would  have  run  out  into  the 
*  As  in  Fig.  12,  and  more  strikingly  in  Fig  76. 


33 


Tlie  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


Fiff.  14.— Section  of  the  Catacomb  of  Calllxtus. 


open  air,  from  the  sloping  of  the  ground  in  which  it  is 
dug.  The  next  stratum,  in,  is  softer  and  more  easily 
worked,  and  therefore  is  that  in  which  are  found  the 
most  important  and  extensive  piani  of  galleries.  The 
cross  sections  P  and  X,  and  the  longitudinal  section  u, 
will  show  how  the  los  .  surface  of  the  more  solid  stra- 
tum above  was  made  the  ceiling  of  these  galleries,  in 
order  to  lessen  the  danger  of  its  falling.  At  b  will  be 
observed  the  employment  of  masonry  to  strengthen  the 


Their  Structure, 


33 


crumbling  walls  of  the  friable  tufa.  The  descent  of  a 
few  steps,  some  of  which  have  been  worn  away,  will  also 
be  noticed  at  u.  At  iv  a  more  rocky  stratum  is  found, 
called  tufa  iithoide,  below  which  the  ancient  fossors* 
had  to  go  to  find  suitable  material  for  the  excavation  of 
the  third  piano.  This  was  found  in  stratum  v,  in  which 
are  two  piani  at  different  levels.  The  lower  one  is  not 
vertically  beneath  that  here  represented  above  it,  but  at 
some  little  distance.  It  is  here  shown,  to  exhibit  at  one 
view  a  section  of  all  the  stories  of  this  Catacomb.  The 
upper  piano,  //,  consists  of  low  and  narrow  galleric^s,  but 
the  lower  one,  marked  r  r  r,  seventy-one  feet  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  ground,  is  of  great  extent.  Several 
of  the  locuii,  it  will  be  perceived,  are  built  of  masonry, 
in  consequence  of  the  crumbling  nature  of  the  soil. 
The  three  large  arcosolia  will  also  be  observed.  The 
floor  of  this //rf//^  rests  on  a  somewhat  firmer  stratum, 
in  which  is  still  another  level  of  galleries,  Q  Q  Q,  ten  feet 
lower  down.  This  lower  level  is  generally  subject  to 
inundation  by  water,  in  consequence  of  the  periodical 
rising  of  the  adjacent  Almone,  the  level  of  which  is 
shown  at  a  depth  of  one  hundred  and  four  feet,  and 
that  of  the  Tiber  at  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  feet, 
below  the  surface. 

To  secure  immunity  from  dampness,  which  would  ac- 
celerate decomposition  and  corrupt  the  atmosphere,  ihe 
Catacombs  were  generally  excavated  in  high  ground  in 
the  undulating  hills  around  the  city,  never  crossing 
the  intervening  depressions  or  valleys.  There  is,  there- 
fore, no  connection  between  the  different  cemeteries  ex- 
cept where  they  happen  to  be  contiguous,  nor,  as  has 
been  asserted,  with  the  churches  of   Rome.     Where  a 

*  An  organized  body  of  diggers,  by  whom  the  Catacombs  were  ex- 
cavated.    See  Book  III,  chap.  iv. 


34 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


!| 


Catacomb  has  been  excavated  in  low  ground,  as  in  the 
exceptional  case  of  that  of  Castulo  on  the  Via  Labicana, 
the  water  has  rendered  it  completely  inaccessible. 

Access  to  these  different  piani  is  gained  by  stairways, 
which  are  sometimes  covered  with  tile  or  marble,  or 
built  with  masonry,  or  by  shafts.  The  awful  silence  and 
almost  palpable  darkness  of  these  deepest  dungeons  is 
absolutely  appalling.  They  are  fitly  described  by  the 
epithet  applied  by  Dante  to  the  realms  of  eternal  gloom : 
loco  cT  ogni  luce  muto — a  spot  mute  of  all  light.  Here 
death  reigns  supreme.  Not  even  so  much  as  a  lizard 
or  a  bat  has  penetrated  these  obscure  recesses.  Nought 
but  skulls  and  skeletons,  dust  and  ashes,  are  on  every  side. 
The  air  is  impure  and  deadly,  and  difficult  to  breathe. 
"  The  cursed  dew  of  the  dungeon's  damp  "  distills  from 
the  walls,  and  a  sense  of  oppression,  like  the  patriarch's 
"  horror  of  great  darkness,"  broods  over  the  scene. 

The  Catacombs  were  ventilated  and  partially  lighted 
by  numerous  openings  variously  called  spiragli^  or  breath- 
ing-holes, and  luminariy  or  light-holes.  They  were  also 
probably  used  for  the  removal  of  the  excavated  material 
from  those  parts  remote  from  the  entrance.  They  were 
even  more  necessary  for  the  admission  of  air  than  of 
light.  Were  it  not  for  these  the  number  of  burning 
lamps,  the  multitude  of  dead  bodies,  no  matter  how 
carefully  the  loculi  were  cemented,  and  the  opening  of 
bisomi^  or  double  graves,  for  interments,  would  create  an 
insupportable  atmosphere.  They  were  generally  in  the 
line  of  junction  between  two  cubicula^  a  branch  of  the 
lumtnare  entering  each  chamber,  as  shown  in  the  accom- 
panying section  of  a  portion  of  the  Catacomb  of  Sts, 
Marcellinus  and  Peter.  Sometimes,  indeed,  four,  or 
even  more,  cubicula  were  ventilated  and  partially  lighted 
by  the  same  shaft.     De  Rossi  mentions  one  Inminare  in 


■  ;- 


Thir  Structure. 


35 


Fiff.  16.— Section  of  Cubicxila  with  Lumlnare. 

the  recently  discovered  Cemetery  of  St.  Balbina,  which 
is  not  square  but  hexagonal,  or  nearly  so,  and  which  di- 
vides into  eight  branches,  illumining  as  many  separate 
chambers  or  galleries.  Sometimes  a  funnel-shaped 
luminare  reaches  to  the  lowest  piatio ;  but  from  the 
faint  rays  that  feebly  struggle  to  those  gloomy  depths 
there  comes  "  no  'ight,  but  rather  darkness  visible."  In 
the  upper  levels,  however,  some  cubicula  are  well  lighted 
by  large  openings.  The  brilliant  Italian  sunshine  to-day 
lights  up  the  pictured  figures  on  the  wall  as  it  must  have 
illumined  with  its  strong  Rembrandt  light  the  fair  brow 
of  the  Chrisiian  maiden,  the  silvery  hair  of  the  vener- 
able pastor,  or  the  calm  face  of  the  holy  dead  waiting 
for  interment  in  those  early  centuries  so  long  ago. 
These  luminari  are  often  two  feet  square  at  the  top,  and 
wider  as  they  descend ;  sometimes  they  are  cylindrical  in 
shape,  as  in  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Helena.*    The  external 

*  See  Fip.  2q. 


36 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


i' 


It 


openings,  often  concealed  by  grass  and  weeds,  arc  very 
nunr.erous  throughout  the  Campagna  near  the  city,  and 
are  often  dangerous  to  the  unwary  rider.  In  almost 
every  vineyard  between  the  Pincian  and  S.darian  roads 
they  may  be  found,  and  through  them  an  entrance  into 
the  Caiacombs  may  frequently  be  effected.  After  the 
persecution  had  ceased,  and  there  was  no  longer  need 
for  concealment,  their  number  was  increased,  and  they 
were  made  of  a  larger  size,  and  frequently  lined  with 
masonry,  or  plastered  and  frescoed.  In  the  Catacombs 
of  St.  Agnes  and  of  Callixtus  are  several  in  a  very  good 
state  of  preservation. 

We  have  already  seen  the  contemporary  account 
of  the  Catacombs  by  Prudentius,  in  the  fourth  century. 
Jerome  also  describes  their  appearance  at  the  same  pe- 
riod in  words  which  are  almost  equally  applicable  to-day. 
"  When  I  was  a  boy,  being  educated  at  Rome,"  he  says, 
"  I  used  every  Sunday,  in  company  with  others  of  my  own 
age  and  tastes,  to  visit  the  sepulchres  of  the  apostles 
and  martyrs,  and  to  go  info  the  crypts  dug  in  the  heart 
of  the  earth.  The  walls  on  either  side  are  lined  with 
bodies  of  the  dead,  and  so  intense  is  the  darkness  as  to 
seemingly  fulfill  the  words  of  the  prophet,  *  They  go 
down  alive  to  Hades.*  Here  and  there  is  light  let  in  to 
mitigate  the  gloom.  As  we  advance  the  words  of  the 
poet  are  brought  to  mind:  *  Horror  on  all  sides;  the 
very  silence  fills  the  soul  with  dread.'  "* 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  features  above  de- 

*  **  Dum  essem  Romae  pncr,  et  liberalibus  studiis  erudirer,  solebam 
cum  ciElcris  ejusdcm  setatis  et  propositi,  diebus  Dominicis  sepulchra 
apostolorum  et  martyrum  circuire,  crebroque  cryptas  ingredi,  quae 
in  terrarum  profunda  defossae,  ex  utraque  parte  ingredientium  per 
parietes  corpora  sepultorum,  ...  *  Horror  ubique  animos,  simul 
ipsa  silentia  terrent.' "' — Ilieron.  in  Ezech.,  Cap.  xl. 


Their  Structure. 


37 


scribed  are  always  perfectly  exhibited.  They  arc  often 
obscured  and  obliterated  by  the  lapse  of  time,  and  by 
earth(}uakes,  inundations,  and  other  destructive  agen- 
cies of  nature.  The  stairways  are  often  broken  and  in- 
terrupted, and  the  corridors  blocked  up  by  the  falling  in 
of  the  roof,  where  it  has  been  carried  taj  near  the  sur- 
face, or  by  the  crumbling  of  the  walls,  and  sometimes 
apparently  by  design  during  the  age  of  persecution. 
The  rains  of  a  thousand  winters  have  washed  tons  of 
earth  down  the  luminari^  destroyed  the  symmetry  of  the 
openings,  and  completely  filled  the  galleries  with  debris. 
The  natural  dampness  of  the  situation,  and  the  smoke 
of  the  lamps  of  the  early  worshipers,  or  the  torches  of 
more  recent  visitors,  and  sometimes  incrustations  of 
nitre,  have  impaired  or  destroyed  the  beauty  of  many 
of  the  paintings.  The  hand  of  the  spoiler  has  in  many 
cases  completed  the  work  of  devastation.  The  rifled 
graves  and  broken  tablets  show  where  piety  or  supersti- 
tion has  removed  the  relics  of  the  dead,  or  where  idle 
curiosity  has  wantonly  mutilated  their  monuments. 

The  present  extent  of  the  Catacombs  is  the  result, 
not  of  primary  intention,  but  of  the  contact  of  sepa- 
rate areas  of  comparatively  limited  original  size,  and 
the  inosculation,  as  it  were,  of  their  distinct  galleries, 
rhis  is  apparent  from  the  fact  that  this  contact  and 
junction  sometimes  take  place  between  areas  of  differ- 
ent levels,  causing  a  break  in  their  horizontal  continuity, 
like  the  "  faults  "  or  dislocations  common  in  geological 
strata.  Sometimes,  too,  this  junction  between  two  ad- 
jacent areas  takes  place  through  a  tier  of  graves,  and 
evidently  formed  no  part  of  the  original  design.  These 
separate  areas  were  originally,  as  we  shall  see  in  the 
following  chapter,  private  burial  places  in  the  vine- 
yards of  wealthy  Christian   converts,   and   were  early 


38 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


1 


I 


made  available  for  the  interment  of  the  poorer  members 
of  the  infant  Church.  In  accordance  with  a  common 
Roman  usage  the  ground  thus  set  apart  for  the  purpose 
of  sepulture  was  placed  under  the  protection  of  the  law, 
and  was  accurately  defined,  to  secure  it  from  trespass 
or  violation.  While  the  protection  of  the  law  was  en- 
joyed, the  excavations  were  strictly  confined  within  the 
limits  of  these  areas,  and  lower  piani  were  dug  rather 
than  transgress  the  boundary.  But  when  that  protection 
was  withdrawn  the  galleries  were  horizontally  extended, 
often  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  escape,  and  connec- 
tions were  made  with  adjacent  areas,  till  the  whole  be- 
came an  intricate  labyrinth  of  passages  and  chambers. 
These  areas  are  still  further  distinguished  by  certain 
peculiarities  in  the  inscriptions,  cubicula,  and  paintings, 
and  were  great 'y  modified  by  subsequent  constructions. 

It  has  till  recently  been  thought  that  the  Catacombs 
were  originally  excavations  made  by  the  Romans  for 
the  extraction  of  sand  and  other  building  material,  and 
afterward  adopted  by  the  Christians  as  places  of  refuge, 
and  eventually  of  sepulture  and  worship.  This  opinion 
was  founded  on  a  few  misunderstood  classical  allusions 
and  statements  in  ancient  ecclesiastial  writers,  and  on 
a  misinterpretation  of  certain  accidental  features  of  the 
Catacombs  themselves.  It  was  held,  nevertheless,  by 
such  eminent  authorities  as  Baronius,  Severano,  Aringhi, 
Bottari,  D'Agincourt,  and  Raoul-Rochette.  Padre 
Marchi  first  rejected  this  theory  of  construction,  and 
the  brothers  De  Rossi  have  completely  refuted  it.  An 
examination  of  the  material  in  which  these  sand  pits 
and  stone  quarries  and  the  Catacombs  were  respect- 
ively excavated,  as  well  as  of  their  structural  differ- 
ences, will  show  their  entirely  distinct  character. 

The  surface  of  the  Campagna,  especially  of  that  part 


Tfieir  Structure, 


39 


occupied  by  the  Catacombs,  is  almost  exclusively  of  vol- 
canic origin.  I'he  most  ancient  and  lowest  stratum  of 
this  igneous  formation  is  a  compact  conglomerate  known 
as  tufa  lithoide.  It  was  extensively  quarried  for  build- 
ing, and  the  massive  blocks  of  the  Cloaca  Maxima  and 
the  ancient  wall  of  Romulus  attest  the  durability  of  its 
character.  Upon  this  rest  stratified  beds  of  volcanic 
ashes,  pumice,  and  scoria,  often  consolidated  with  water, 
but  of  a  substance  much  less  firm  than  that  of  the  tufa 
litJuiide^  and  called  tufa  gratwlare.  In  insulated  beds, 
rarely  of  considerable  extent,  in  this  latter  formation, 
occurs  another  material,  known  as  pozzolana.  It  con- 
sists of  volcanic  ashes  deposited  on  dry  land,  and  still 
existing  in  an  unconsolidated  condition.  This  is  the  ma- 
terial of  the  celebrated  Roman  cement,  which  holds 
together  to  this  day  the  massy  structures  of  ancient 
Rome.  It  was  conveyed  for  building  purposes  as  far 
as  Constantinople,  and  the  pier  on  the  Tiber  from  which 
it  was  shipped  is  still  called  the  Porto  di  Pozzolana. 
It  is  in  these  latter  deposits  exclusively  that  the  arenaria^ 
or  sand  pits,  are  found.  The  tufa  graiwlare  is  too  firm, 
and  contains  too  large  a  proportion  of  earth,  to  use  as 
sand,  and  is  yet  too  friable  for  building  purposes.  Yet 
it  is  in  this  material,  entirely  worthless  for  any  eco- 
nomic use,  that  the  Catacombs  are  almost  exclusively  ex- 
cavated ;  while  the  tufa  lithoide  and  the  pozzolana  are 
both  carefully  avoided  where  possible,  the  one  as  too 
hard  and  the  other  as  too  soft  for  purposes  of  Christian 
sepulture.  Sometimes,  indeed,  as  at  the  cemeteries  of 
St.  Pontianus  and  St,  Valentinus,  for  special  reasons, 
Catacombs  were  excavated  in  less  suitable  material; 
but  still  the  substance  removed — a  shelly  marl — was 
economically  useless,  and  the  galleries  had  to  be  sup- 
ported by  solid  masonry.     The  tufa  granolare^  on  the 


40 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


contrary,  was  admirably  adapted  for  the  construction  of 
these  subterranean  cemeteries.  It  could  be  easily  dug 
with  a  mattock,  yet  was  firm  enough  to  be  hollowed  into 
loculi  and  chambers  ;  and  its  porous  character  made  the 
chambers  dry  and  wholesome  for  purposes  of  assem- 
bly, which  was  of  the  utmost  importance  in  view  of  the 
vast  number  of  bodies  interred  in  these  recesses.^ 

The  differences  of  structure  between  the  quarries  or 
arenaria  and  the  Catacombs  are  no  less  striking.  To 
this  day,  the  vast  grottoes  from  which  the  material  for 
the  building  of  the  Coliseum  was  hewn,  most  probably 
by  the  Jewish  prisoners  of  Titus,  may  still  be  seen  on 
the  Coelian  hill.  It  is  said  that  in  those  gloomy  vaults 
were  kept  the  fierce  Num^dian  lions  and  leopards 
whose  conflicts  with  the  Christian  martyrs  furnished  the 
savage  pastime  of  the  Roman  amphitheatre.  But  noth- 
ing can  less  resemble  the  narrow  and  winding  passages 
of  the  Catacombs  than  those  tremendous  caverns. 

Nor  is  there  any  greater  resemblance  in  the  excava- 
tions of  the  arenaria.  These  are  large  and  lofty  vaults, 
from  sixteen  to  twenty  feet  wide,  the  arch  of  which 
often  springs  directly  from  the  floor,  so  as  to  give  the 
largest  amount  of  sand  with  the  least  labour  of  excava- 
tion. The  object  was  to  remove  as  much  material  as 
possible  ;  hence  there  was  often  only  enough  left  to  sup- 
port the  roof.  The  spacious  passages  of  the  arenaria 
run  in  curved  lines,  avoiding  sharp  angles,  fo  as  to  allow 
the  free  passage  of  the  carts  which  carried  away  the 
excavated  sand.  In  the  Catacombs,  on  the  contrary, 
as  little  material  as  possible  was  removed ;  hence  the 
galleries  are  generally  not  more  than  three,  or  some- 
times only  two,  feet  wide,  and  run  for  the  most  part  in 
straight  lines,  often  crossing  each  other  at  qnite  acute 
angles,  so  that  only  very  i.urrow  carts  can  be  used  ii. 


Their  Stmcture. 


4T 


cleaning  out  the  accumulated  debris  of  centuries — a  very 
tedious  process,  which  greatly  increases  the  cost  of 
exploration.  The  walls,  moreover,  are  always  vertical, 
and  the  roof  sometimes  quite  flat,  or  only  slightly  arched. 
The  wide  difference  in  the  principle  of  construction  is 
obvious.  The  great  object  in  the  Catacombs  has  been 
to  obtain  the  maximum  of  wall-surface,  for  the  inter- 
ment of  the  dead  in  the  loculi  with  which  the  galleries 
are  lined  throughout,  with  the  minimum  of  excavation. 
The  structural  difference  will  at  once  be  seen  by  com- 
paring the  irregular  windings  of  the  small  arenarium 
represented  in  the  upper  part  of  Figs.  3  and  26  with 
the  straight  and  symmetrical  galleries  of  the  adjacent 
Catacomb.  Connected  with  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Agnes 
is  an  extensive  arenarium^  whose  spacious,  grotto-like 
appearance  is  very  different  from  that  of  the  narrow  se- 
pulchral galleries  beneath.  In  the  floor  of  this  arenarium 
is  a  square  shaft  leading  to  the  Catacomb,  in  which 
Dr.  Northcote  conjectures  there  was  formerly  a  wind- 
lass for  removing  the  excavated  material.  There  are 
also  footholes,  for  climbing  the  sides  of  the  shaft,  cut  in 
the  solid  tufa^  perhaps  as  a  means  of  escape  in  the  time 
of  peisecution.  This  arenarium^  which  >vas  probably 
worked  out  and  abandoned  long  before  its  connection 
with  the  Catacomb,  may  have  been  employed  as  a 
masked  entrance  to  its  crypts,  when  the  mnre  public 
one  could  not  be  safely  used.  Its  spacious  vaults  may 
also  have  been  a  receptacle  for  the  broken  tufa  removed 
from  the  galleries  beneath. 

Many  of  these  arenaria  may  be  observed  excavated 
in  the  hill-sides  near  Rome ;  but  except  when  incident- 
ally forming  part  of  a  Catacomb,  they  have  never  been 
found  to  contain  a  single  grave.  Indeed,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  utter  unfitness  of  the  pozzolana  for  the 


4^ 


Tlic  Catacombs  of  Rome' 


purposes  of  Christian  sepulture,  the  intrusion  of  a  de- 
posit of  that  material  into  the  area  of  a  Catacomb  pre- 
vented the  extension  or  necessitated  the  diversion  of 
its  galleries.  Moreover,  where  the  attempt  has  been 
made  to  convert  an  arenarium  into  a  Christian  cemetery, 
the  change^  which  have  been  made  show  conclusively 
its  original  unfitness  for  the  latter  purpose.  The  accom- 
panying section  of  a  gallery  in 
the  Catacomb  of  St.  Hermes 
will  exhibit  the  structural  ad- 
ditions necessary  to  adopt  an 
arenarium  for  Christian  sep- 
ulture. The  sides  of  the 
semi-eliptical  vault  had  to 
be  built  up  with  brick-work, 
leaving  only  a  narrow  passage 

PiC-ia-GaUeryuiStHerme..      j^     ^^^     middle.      The     loculi 

were  spaces  left  in  the  masonry,  in  which  the  mouldering 
skeletons  may  still  be  seen.  The  openings  were 
closed   with  slabs   in  the  usual  manner,  as  shovn  in 


Fig.  17.— Part  of  Wall  of  Gallery  in  St.  Hermes. 

the  elevation,  (Fig.  17,)  except  at  the  top,  where  they 
cover  the  grave  obliquely,  like  the  roof  of  a  house. 
The  vault  is  often  arched  with  brick-work,  and  at  the 


Their  Strticture. 


43 


intersection  of  the  galleries  has  sometimes  to  be  sup- 
ported by  a  solid  pier  of  masonry.  In  part  of  an  an- 
cient arenarium  converted  into  a  cemetery  in  the  Cata- 
comb of  St.  Priscilla  similar  constructions  may  be  seen. 
The  long  walls  and  numerous  pil'irs  of  brick-work 
concealing  and  sustaining  the  tufa,  and  the  irregular 
windings  of  the  passages,  show  at  once  the  vast  differ- 
ence between  the  annariv  and  the  Catacomb,  and 
the  immense  labour  and  expense  required  to  convert 
the  former  into  the  latte  / 

It  hai  been  urged  in  objection  to  this  theory,  that  the 
difficulty  oi  secretly  disposing  of  at  least  a  hundred 
millions  of  cubic  feet  of  refuse  material  taken  from  the 
Catacombs  must  have  been  exceedingly  great,  unless  it 
could  be  removed  under  cover  of  employment  for  some 
economic  purpose.  It  will  be  shown,  however,  that 
secrecy  was  not  alway  necessary,  as  has  been  assumed, 
but  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  Christian  right  of  sepulture 
was  for  a  long  time  legally  recognized  by  the  Pagan 
Emperors;  and  that  the  Catacombs  continued  to  be 
publicly  used  for  a  considerable  time  after  the  establish- 
ment of  Christianity  on  the  throne  of  the  Caesars.  Dur- 
ing the  exacerbations  of  persecution  there  is  evidence 
that  the  excavated  material  was  deposited  in  the  gal- 
eries  already  filled  with  graves,  or,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
the  spacious  vaults  of  adjacent  arenaria.  If  the  Cata- 
combs were  merely  excavations  for  sand  or  stone,  as  has 
been  asserted,  we  ought  to  find  many  of  their  narrow 
galleries  destitute  of  tombs,  and  many  of  the  arenaria 
containing  them ;  whereas  every  yard  of  the  former  is 
occupied  with  graves,  and  not  a  single  grave  is  found  in 
the  latter,  nor  do  they  contain  a  single  example  of  a 
mural  painting  or  inscription.  The  conclusion  is  irresist- 
ible that  the  Catacombs  proper  were  created  exclusively 


44 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


i 


i 


for  the  purpose  of  Christian  burial,  and  in  no  case  were 
of  Pagan  construction. 

The  erroneous  theory  here  combated  has  arisen,  as 
we  have  said,  chiefly  from  certain  classical  allusions  to 
the  arenaria,  and  from  passages  in  the  ancient  ecclesi- 
astical records  describing  the  burial  places  of  the  mar- 
tyrs, as  in  cryptis  arenariisy  in  arenario^  or  ad  arenas.  Some 
of  these  localities,  however,  have  been  identified  beyond 
question,  and  found  to  consist  merely  of  a  sandy  kind 
of  rock,  and  not  at  all  of  the  true  pozzolana.  In  others 
a  vein  oi pozzolana  does  actually  occur  in  the  Catacombs, 
or  they  are  connected  with  ancient  arenaria,  as  at  St. 
Agnes  and  at  Calixtus.  In  the  other  instances  the 
localities  are  either  yet  unrecognized,  or  the  expression 
merely  implies  that  the  cemetery  was  near  the  sand  pits 
— Juxta  arenariunij  or  in  loco  qui  dicitur  ad  Arenas. 

The  mere   technical  description  of  the   Catacombs, 

however,  gives  no  idea  of  the  thrilling  interest  felt  in 

traversing  their  long-drawn  corridors  and  vaulted  halls. 

As  the  pilgrim  to  this  shrine  of  the  primitive  faith  visits 

these  chambers  of  silence  and  gloom,  accompanied  by 

a  serge-clad,  sandaled  monk,*  he  seems  like  the  Tuscan 

poet  wandering  through  the   realms  of  darkness  with 

his  shadowy  guide. 

"  Ora  sen'  va  per  un  segreto  calle 
Tra  r  muro  della  terra."  f 

His  footsteps  echo  strangely  down  the  distant  passages 
and  hollow  vaults,  dying  gradually  away  in  the  solemn 
stillness  of  this  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.     The 

*  Unfortunately  for  Protestant  visitors  most  of  the  Catacombs  are 
open  for  inspection  only  on  Sunday,  when  the  work  of  exploration 
ib  suspended. 

f  "  And  now  through  narrow,  gloomy  paths  we  go, 
'Tween  walls  of  earth  and  tombs." — Inferno. 


Their  Structure. 


<5 


bs  are 
ration 


graves  yawn  weirdly  as  he  passes,  torch  in  hand.  The 
flame  struggles  feebly  with  the  thickening  darkness, 
vaguely  revealing  the  unfleshed  skeletons  on  either  side, 
till  its  redness  fades  to  sickly  white, like  X\i2X  fioco lume^'^ 
that  pale  light,  by  which  Dante  saw  the  crowding  ghosts 
upon  the  shores  of  Acheron.  Deep  mysterious  shadows 
crouch  around,  and  the  dim  perspective,  lined  with  the 
sepuchral  niches  of  the  silent  community  of  the  dead, 
stretch  on  in  an  apparently  unending  vista.  The  very 
air  seems  oppressive  and  stifling,  and  laden  with  the  dry 
dust  of  death.  The  vast  extent  and  population  of  this 
great  necropolis  overwhelm  the  imagination,  and  bring 
to  mind  Petrarch's  melancholy  line — 

"  Plena  di  morti  tutta  la  campagna."  \ 

Almost  appalling  in  its  awe  and  solemnity  is  the  sud- 
den transition  from  the  busy  city  of  the  living  to  the 
silent  city  of  the  dead ;  from  the  golden  glory  of  the 
Italian  sunlight  to  the  funereal  gloom  of  these  sombre 
vaults.  The  sacred  influence  of  the  place  subdues  the 
soul  to  tender  emotions.  The  fading  pictures  on  the 
walls  and  the  pious  epitaphs  of  the  departed  breathe 
on  every  side  an  atmosphere  of  faith  and  hope,  and 
awaken  a  sense  of  spiritual  kinship  that  overleaps  the 
intervening  centuries.  We  speak  with  bated  breath 
and  in  whispered  tones,  and  thought  is  busy  with  the 
past.  It  is  impossible  not  to  feel  strangely  moved  while 
gazing  on  the  crumbling  relics  of  mortality  committed 
ages  ago,  with  pious  care  and  many  tears,  to  their  last, 
long  rest. 

**  It  seems  as  if  we  had  the  sleepers  known."  J 

♦"Com'  io  discerno  per  lo  fioco  lume." — Inferno. 
t  "  Full  of  the  dead  this  far  extending  field." 
X  Childe  Harold,  iv,  104. 


j 


46 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


We  see  the  mother,  the  while  her  heart  is  wrung  with 
anguish,  laying  on  its  stony  bed — rude  couch  for  such  a 
tender  thing — the  little  form  that  she  had  cherished  in 
her  warm  embrace.  We  behold  the  persecuted  flock 
following,  it  may  be,  the  mangled  remains  of  the  faith- 
ful pastor  and  valiant  martyr  for  the  truth,  which  at  the 
risk  of  their  lives  they  have  stealthily  gathered  at  dead 
of  night.  With  holy  hymns,*  broken  by  their  sobs,  they 
commit  his  mutilated  body  to  the  grave,  where  after 
life's  long  toil  he  sleepeth  well.  We  hear  the  Christian 
chant,  the  funeral  plaint,  the  pleading  tones  of  prayer, 
and  the  words  of  holy  consolation  and  of  lofty  hope 
with  which  the  dead  in  Christ  are  laid  to  rest.  A  mo- 
ment, and  —  the  spell  is  broken,  the  past  has  vanished, 
and  stern  reality  becomes  again  a  presence.  Ruin  and 
desolation  and  decay  are  all  around. 

The  exploration  of  these  worse  than  Daedalian  laby- 
rinths is  not  unattended  with  danger.  That  intrepid 
investigator,  Bosio,  was  several  times  well  nigh  lost  in  their 
mysterious  depths.  That  disaster  really  happened  to 
M.  Roberts,  a  young  French  artist,  whose  adventure  has 
been  wrought  into  an  exciting  scene  in  Hans  Andersen's 
tale,  "The  Improvisatore,"  and  forms  an  episode  in 
the  Abbe  de  Lille's  poem,  ^^L' Imagination.''  Inspired 
by  the  enthusiasm  of  his  profession,  he  attempted  to  ex- 
plore one  of  the  Catacombs,  with  nothing  but  a  torch 
and  a  thread  for  a  guide.  As  he  wandered  on  through 
gallery  and  chamber,  he  became  so  absorbed  in  his  study 
that,  unawares,  the  thread  slipped  from  his  hand.  On 
discovering  his  loss  he  tried,  but  in  vain,  to  recover  the 
clew.  Presently  his  torch  went  out,  and  he  was  left  in 
utter  darkness,  imprisoned  in  a  living  grave,  surrounded 
by  the  relics  of  mortality.  The  silence  was  oppressive. 
♦  Hymnos  et  psalmos  decantans. — Hieron.,  Vit.  Pauli. 


Their  Structure. 


47 


Issive. 


He  shouted,  but  the  hollow  echoes  mocked  his  voice. 
Weary  with  fruitless  efforts  to  escape  his  dread  impris- 
onment he  threw  himself  in  despair  upon  the  earth, 
when,  lo,  something  familiar  touched  his  hand.  Could 
he  believe  it }  it  was  indeed  the  long  lost  clew  by  which 
alone  he  could  obtain  deliverance  from  this  awful 
labyrinth.  Carefully  following  the  precious  thread  he 
reached  at  last  the  open  air, 

And  never  Tiber,  rippling  through  the  meads, 

Made  music  half  so  sweet  among  its  reeds; 

And  never  had  the  earth  such  rich  perfunr  e, 

As  when  from  him  it  chased  the  odor  of  the  tomb.* 

Still  more  terrible  in  its  wildness  is  an  incident  nar- 
rated by  MacFarlane.f  In  the  year  1798,  after  the  re- 
turn to  Rome  of  the  Republican  army  under  Berthier, 
a  party  of  French  officers,  atheistic  disciples  of  Voltaire 
and  Rousseau,  and  hardened  by  the  orgies  of  the  Revo- 
lution, visited  the  Catacombs.  They  caroused  in  the 
sepulchial  crypts,  and  sang  their  bacchanalian  songs 
among  the  Christian  dead.  They  rifled  the  graves  and 
committed  sacrilege  at  the  tombs  of  the  saints.  One 
of  the  number,  a  reckless  young  cavalry  officer,  "  who 
feared  not  God  nor  devil,  for  he  believed  in  neither,"  re- 
solved to  explore  the  remoter  galleries.  He  was  speedily 
lost,  and  was  abandoned  by  his  companions.  His  excited 
imagination  heightened  the  natural  horrors  of  th3  scene. 
The  grim  and  ghastly  skeletons  seemed  an  army  of 
accusing  spectres.  Down  the  long  corridors  the  wind 
mysteriously  whispered,  rising  in  inarticulate  moanings 
and  woeful  sighs,  as  of  souls  in  pain.  The  tones  of  the 
neighbouring  convent  bell,  echoing  through   the  stony 

*  From  ^^ V Imagination"  by  Abbe  de  Lille,  MacFarlane's  trans- 
lation, 
f  Catacombs  of  Rome.     London,  1852.     P.  94,  et  seq. 


' 


48 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


vaults,  sounded  loud  and  awful  as  the  knell  of  doom. 
Groping  blindly  in  the  dark,  he  touched  nothing  but 
rocky  walls  or  mouldering  bones,  that  sent  a  thrill  of 
hirror  through  his  frame.  Though  but  a  thin  roof  sepa- 
rated him  from  the  bright  sunshine  and  free  air,  he 
seemed  condemned  to  living  burial.  His  philosophical 
skepticism  failed  him  in  this  hour  of  peril.  He  could 
no  longer  scoff  at  death  as  ''''  un  sommeil  eternel^  The 
palimpsest  of  memory  recalled  with  intensest  vividness 
the  Christian  teachings  of  his  childhood.  His  soul  be- 
came filled  and  penetrated  with  a  solemn  awe.  His 
physical  powers  gave  way  beneath  the  intensity  of  his 
emotion.  He  was  rescued  the  next  day,  but  was  long 
ill.  He  rose  from  his  bed  an  altered  man.  His  life  was 
thenceforth  serious  and  devout.  When  killed  in  battle 
in  Calabria  seven  years  after,  a  copy  of  the  Gospels  was 
found  next  to  his  heart. 

Even  as  late  as  1837  a  party  of  students  with  their 
professor,  numbering  in  all  some  sixteen,  or,  as  some  say, 
nearly  thirty,  entered  the  Catacombs  on  a  holiday  excur- 
sion, to  investigate  their  antiquities,  but  became  entangled 
amid  their  intricacies.  Diligent  search  was  made,  but 
no  trace  of  them  was  ever  found.  In  some  silent  crypt 
or  darksome  corridor  they  were  slowly  overtaken  by  the 
same  torturing  fate  as  that  of  Ugolino  and  his  sons  in 
the  Hunger  Tower  of  Pisa.*  The  passage  by  which 
they  entered  has  been  walled  up,  but  the  mystery  of 
their  fate  will  never  be  dispelled  till  the  secrets  of  the 
grave  shall  be  revealed. 

♦  Inferno,  Canto  xxxiii,  vv.  21-75. 


Tfieir  Origin  and  Early  History, 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  ORIGIN  AND  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  CATACOMBS. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  the  first  Roman  Catacombs 
were  excavated  by  the  Jews.*  Many  Hebrew  cap- 
tives graced  the  triumph  of  Pompey  after  his  Syrian 
conquests,  B.  C.  62.  The  Jewish  population  increased 
by  further  voluntary  accessions.  They  soon  swarmed 
in  that  Trans-Tiberine  region  which  formed  the  ancient 
Ghetto  of  Rome.  They  made  many  proselytes  from 
paganism  to  the  worship  of  the  true  God,  and  thus,  to 
use  the  language  of  Seneca,  "  The  conquered  gave  laws  to 

their  conquerors."  t 

All  the  national  customs  and  prejudices  of  the  Jews 
were  opposed  to  the  Roman  practice  of  burning  the  dead, 
which  Tacitus  asserts  they  never  observed;  J  and  they 
clung  with  tenacity  to  their  hereditary  mode  of  sepul- 
ture.   Wherever  they  have  dwelt  they  have  left  traces 

♦  A  deal  of  fancifui  theory  has  been  indulged  in  as  to  the  origin 
of  the  Catacombs.  They  have  been  attributed  to  a  ;pre-historic  race 
of  Troglodytes,  who  loathed  the  light  of  day,  and  burrowed  like 
moles  in  the  earth.  Mac  Farlane  has  an  eloquent  apostrophe  to  the 
old  Etrurians,  bj  whom'  he  imagined  they  were  excavated  twelve 
hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era.  We  have  seen  also  how  they 
were  erroneously  attributed  to  the  pagan  Romans. 

t  Victoribus  victi  leges  dedcrunt.  On  the  I'Hber,  the  Tigris,  and 
the  Nile,  this  saying  was  strikingly  verified.  Yet  Judaism  is  an 
essentially  conservative,  not  an  aggressive,  religion.  It  was  «n- 
adapted  for  such  wide-spread  conquests  as  those  of  Chk-lstianity,  or 
even  of  Mohammedism.  The  ancient  mould  of  thought,  having 
served  its  purpose,  was  broken.  Judaism  may  be  said  to  have  died 
in  giving  birth  to  Christianity. 

X  ffist.^  V,  5. 


50 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


of  subterranean  burial.  The  hills  of  Judca  are  honey- 
combed with  sepulchral  caves  and  galleries.  Similar 
excavations  have  been  found  in  the  Jewish  settlements 
of  Asia  Minor,  the  ^gean  Isles,  Sicily,  and  Southern 
Italy.*  So  also  in  Rome  they  sought  to  be  separated 
in  death,  as  in  life,  from  the  Gentiles  among  whom  they 
dwelt.  They  had  their  Catacombs  apart,  in  which  not 
a  single  Christian  or  pagan  inscription  has  been  found. 
Bosio  describes  one  such  Catacomb,  which  he  discov- 
ered on  Monte  Verde,  which  was  much  more  ancient 
than  the  Christian  Catacomb  of  St.  Pontianus  in  the 
same  vicinity.  It  '  i«  of  very  rude  construction,  and 
contained  not  a  single  Christian  monument,  but  numer- 
ous slabs  bearing  the  seven-branched  Jewish  candle- 
stick, and  one  inscription  on  which  the  word  CTNAFQF 
—  Synagogue  —  was  legible. f  It  was  situated  near  that 
Trans-Tiberine  quarter  of  the  city  inhabited  at  the  pe- 
riod of  the  Christian  era  by  the  numerous  Jewish  popula- 
tion of  Rome.  It  cannot  now,  however,  be  identified, 
having  been  obliterated  or  concealed  by  the  changes 
of  the  last  t;vo  centuries.  Maitland  gives  the  following 
Jewish  inscription  from  a  MS.  collection  in  Rome.  The 
figure  to  the  left  may  be  a  horn  for  replenishing  the  lamp 
with  oil.  The  letters  at  the  right  are  probably  intended 
for  the  Hebrew  word  DW,  Shalom^  or  Peace,  so  com- 
mon in  its  classical  equivalent  upon  Christian  tombs. 
The  palm  branch  is  a  Pagan  as  well  as  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian symbol  of  victory.  The  central  figure  is  a  rude  repre- 

*  In  1853  a  Jewish  Catacomb  was  discovered  at  Venosa,  in  South- 
em  Italy,  containing  one  gallery  seven  feet  high  and  four  hundred 
feet  long.  In  1854  another  was  discovered  at  Oria,  with  many 
Hebrew  symbols  and  inscriptions.  There  were  many  Jews  in  Apulia 
and  Calabria. 

*  In  eo  quippe  haud  uUa,  ut  in  reliquis  Christian*  religionis 
indicia  et  signa  apparebant.-- Bosio,  Rom.  Sott.^  142. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History, 


ft 


ENeAAE   KBI 
tai  ^AYCTINA 


"Here  lies  Faustina,     In  Peace" 
Fiff.  18.  — Slab  firom  Jewlah  Catacomb. 

sentation  of  the  seven-branched  candlestick  which  ap- 
I)ears  also  in  bass-relief  on  the  Arch  of  Titus  at  Rome. 

In  the  year  1859  another  Jewish  Catacomb  was  dis- 
covered in  fhe  Vigna  Randanini,  on  the  Appian  Way, 
about  two  miles  from  Rome.  It  has  been  minutely  de- 
scribed by  Padre  Garrucci.*  In  this  the  graves  and 
sarcophagi  are  sunk  in  the  floor  as  well  as  in  the  walls. 
They  are  closed  with  terra  cotta  or  marble  slabs,  and  are 
otherwise  similar  to  those  of  the  Christian  Catacombs. 
It  contains  several  vaulted  chambers,  one  of  which  has 
some  very  remarkable  paintings  of  the  seven-branched 
candlestick  on  the  roof  and  walls.  The  same  figure  is 
frequently  scratched  on  the  mortar  with  which  the 
graves  are  closed.  The  dove  and  olive  branch  and  the 
palm  are  also  frequently  repeated.  Although  nearly 
two  hundred  inscriptions  have  been  discovered,  not  one 
of  either  pagan  or  Christian  character  has  been  met 
with. 

The  names  are  sometimes  strikingly  Jewish  in  form, 
and  where  the  epitaphs  refer  to  the  station  of  the  de- 

*  Cimitero  degli  Antichi  Ebrei  Scoperto  recenteimnte  in   Vigna 
Randaniuiy  illustrato  da  Raffacle  Garrucci.     8vo.     Roma,  1S62. 


52 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\ 


\ 


' 


ceased  it  is  always  to  officers  of  the  synagogue,  as 
APKONTEC,  rulers,  TPAMMATEIC,  scribes.  The  fol- 
ing  examples  are  from  the  Kircherian  Museum  : 

i2AE  KEIT^',  CAAS2[MH]  eYFATHP  TAAIA  OATPOC  CTNA- 
nzrHC  AIBPEQN  EBliZCEN  MA  EN  EIPHNH  KOIMHCIC  ATTHC. 
Here  lies  Salome,  ti^^jghte*  of  Gadia,  Father  of  the  Synagogue 
of  the  Hebrews.  She  lived  forty-one  years.  Her  sleep  is  in 
peace.  EN0AAE  KEITE  KTNriANOC  rRPOYCIAPKHC  CTNA- 
TiZrHC  THC  ATrTCTHCIi2N.  Hc.e  lies  Quintianus,  Gerousiarch 
(that  is,  Chief  Klder)  of  the  Synagogue  of  the  Augustenses. 
ENeAAE  KEITAI  NEIKOAHMOC  O  APXI.2N  CIBOYPHC  i«N  KAI 
nACI*EIA]tTOC  AITQNAHMEPMB  OAPI  ABAABI  NEiH'EPE 
OYAEIC  AOaNATOC.  Hcc  lies  Nicodeunis,  ruler  of  the  Sever- 
enses,  and  beloved  of  all ;  (aged)  thirty  years,  forty-two  days.  Be 
of  good  cheer,  O  inoffensive  }  oung  man  !  no  one  is  exempt  from 
death. 

.  This  inscription  will  recall  another  "  ruler  of  the 
Synagogue "  of  the  same  name.  Many  of  the  sleep- 
ers in  thii  Jewish  Cemetery  were  evidently,  from  their 
names,*  Greek  or  Latin  proselytes.  Sometimes,  indeed, 
this  is  expre'  ;ly  asserted,  as  in  the  following : 


Mannacivs  sorori  Crysidi  dvlcissime  proselyte.- 
cius  to  his  sweetest  sister  Chrysis,  a  proselyte. 


-Manna- 


It  may  be  assumed  that  this  Catacomb  was  exclu- 
sively Jewish,  and  we  know,  from  the  testimony  of 
Juvenal  f  and  others,  that  numbers  of  the  Jews  inhabited 
the  adjacent  part  of  Rome,  about  the  Porta  Capena 
and  the  valley  of  Egeria.  It  is  not,  however,  certain 
whether  it  is  the  original  type,  or  a  later  imitation,  of  the 
Christian  cemetery.  But  the  Jewish  population  must 
have  had  extra-mural  places  of  sepulture  before  the 
Christian  era ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  early  Jewish 

♦  See  Fig.  i8. 

t  Nunc  sacri  fontis  nimus,  et  delubra  locantur 
Judaeis. — Sat.  iii,  13. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


53 


converts  to  "Christianity  may  have  merely  continued  a 
mode  of  burial  already  in  vogue,  substituting  the  em- 
blems of  their  newly  adopted  faith  for  those  which 
they  had  forsaken ;  or,  rather  —  for  we  find  that 
they  frequently  retained  certain  Jewish  symbols,  as  the 
dove,  olive  branch,  and  palm  —  supplementing  them 
with  the  emblems  of  Christianity.  De  Rossi  has  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  the  earliest  mode  of  Christian 
burial  was  in  sarcophagi,  as  in  the  Jewish  cemetery 
above  described. 

The  date  of  the  plmting  of  Christianity  in  Rome  is 
uncertain.  Probably  some  of  the  "  strangers  of  Rome  '* 
who  witnessed  the  miracle  of  the  Pentecost,  or,  perhaps, 
the  Gentile  converts  of  the  "  Italian  band  "  of  Cornelius, 
brought  the  new  evangel  to  their  native  city.*  But  cer- 
tain it  is  that  as  early  as  A.  D.  58   the  faith  of  the 

*  It  is  incredible  that  the  Apostle  Peter  had  any  share  in  planting 
the  Roman  Church.  If  he  had,  Paul  would  not,  as  he  does,  utterly 
ignore  his  labours.  "  Only  Luke  is  with  me,"  writes  St.  Paul,  just 
before  his  death ;  yet  he  and  Peter  are  feigned  to  have  suffered  on 
the  same  day.  The  story  of  St.  Peter's  twenty-five  years'  episcopate 
at  Rome  is  too  absurd  to  require  disproof.  The  very  minuteness  of 
detail  in  the  legends  of  St.  Peter  is  tfteir  own  refutation.  In  vain 
are  we  shown  the  chair  in  which  tradition  asserts  that  he  sat,  the 
font  at  which  he  baptized,  the  cell  in  which  he  was  confined,  the 
fountain  which  sprang  up  in  its  floor,  the  pillar  to  which  he  was 
bound,  the  chains  which  he  wore,  the  impression  made  by  his 
head  in  the  wall  and  by  his  knees  in  the  stony  pavement,  the  scene  of 
his  crucifixion,  the  very  hole  in  which  the  foot  of  the  cross  was  place<l, 
and  the  tomb  in  which  his  body  is  said  to  lie ;  they  all  fail  to  carry 
conviction  to  any  mind  in  which  superstition  has  not  destroyed  the 
critical  faculty.  The  mighty  fane  which  rises  sublimely  in  the  heart 
of  Rome  in  honour  of  the  Galilean  fisherman,  like  the  religious  sys- 
tem of  which  it  is  the  visible  exponent,  is  founded  on  a  shadowy  tra- 
dition, opposed  alike  to  the  testimony  of  Scripture,  the  evidence  of 
history,  and  the  deductions  of  reason.  The  question  whether  Peter 
ever  was  in  Rome  has  recently  been  publicly  discussed  under  the  very 
shadow  of  the  Vatican.     Verily,  Teniporti  mutantur. 


54 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\ 


\ 


Roman  Church  was  "  spoken  of  throughout  the  whole 
world."  "  Christianity,"  says  Tertullian,  "  grew  up  un- 
der the  shadow  of  the  Jewish  religion,  to  which  it  was 
regarded  as  akin,  and  about  the  lawfulness  of  which 
ihere  was  no  question;  "*  and  it  doubtless  adopted  the 
burial  usages  of  Judaism. 

But  even  without  the  example  of  the  Jews  the  Ro- 
man Christians  would  naturally  revolt  from  the  pagan 
custom  of  burning  the  dead,  with  its  accompanying 
idolatrous  usages,!  and  would  prefer  burial,  after  the 
manner  of  their  Lord.  They  showed  a  tender  care 
for  the  remains  of  the  dead,  under  a  vivid  impression  of 
the  communion  of  saints  and  the  resurrection  of  the 
body.  They  seemed  to  regard  the  sepulchre  as  "  God's 
cabinet  or  shrine,  where  he  pleases  to  lay  up  the  pre- 
cious relics  of  his  dear  saints  until  the  jubilee  of  glory."  J 
Even  the  Jews  designated  the  grave  as  Beth~ha-hatm, 
the  "house  of  the  living,"  rather  than  the  house  of  the 
dead.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  the  origin  of  the 
Christian  Catacombs  dates  from  the  death  of  the  first 
Roman  believer  in  Christ. 

Many  of  the    Catacombs  were   probably  begun   as 

♦  Nos  quoque  ut  Judaicae  religionis  propinquos,  sub  umbraculum 
insigfnissimae  religionis  certfi  licitse. — Ad  Nat.,  i,  ii. 

+  Execrantur  rogos,  et  damnant  ignium  sepuUuras. — Minuc.  Felix., 
Ociav.,  ii,  451.  Tertullian  declared  it  to  be  a  symbol  of  the  fires  of 
hell.  Possibly,  also,  the  expense  and  publicity  inseparable  from  the 
practice  of  cremation  made  it  a  matter  of  necessity  for  the  early  Chris- 
tians to  adopt  the  less  costly  and  more  private  mode  of  subterranean  in- 
terment. Merivale,  indeed,  asserts  that  the  early  Roman  Christians 
burned  their  dead,  (vi,  444,)  and  adduces  in  support  of  this  strange 
theory  only  the  pagan  dedication  D.  M.,  found  on  some  Christian 
tombs.  As  will  be  shown,  (Book  III,  i,)  these  letters  were  part  of  a 
common  epigraphic  formula,  and  give  no  warrant  for  this  startling 
statement. 

}  Bishop  Hall. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


55 


private  sepulchres  for  single  families;  indeed,  some  such 
tombs  have  been  discovered  in  the  vicinity  of  Rome, 
which  never  extended  beyond  a  single  chamber.  They 
were  excavated  in  the  gardens  or  vineyards  of  the 
wealthy  converts  to  Christianity,  in  imitation  of  that 
rock-hewn  sepulchre  consecrated  by  the  body  of  Christ. 
The  following  inscription,  which  may  still  be  seen 
in  the  most  ancient  part  of  the  Catacombs  of  Sts. 
Nereus  and  Achilles,  seem  to  refer  to  such  a  family  tomb. 

Another  inscription,  found  in 
the  Catacomb  of  St.  Nicome- 
des,  restricts  the  use  of  the 
sepulchre  to  the  original  owner, 
and  those  of  his  dependents  who 
belong  to  his  religion — at 
[ad]  religionem  pertinentes 

MEAM. 

The   names  of  many  of  the 

M.  Antonius  Res[ti]tutus  burial  crypts  commemorate 
made  [this]  hypogeum  for  these  original  owners.  Among 
himself   and   his   [relatives]    q^\^^^^    those    of    Lucina,   Pris- 

who  believe  in  the  Lord.*  .,,  ,  ^-k       •^•n  -j 

ciUa,  and  Domitilla  are  consid- 
ered to  belong  to  the  First  Century,  and  the  two  former 
to  the  times  of  the  Apostles.  Some  of  these  may  have 
been  originally  designed,  or  afterwards  opened,  for  the 
reception  of  the  poor  belonging  to  the  Church ;  and 
thus  the  Catacombs  would  be  indefinitely  extended  till 
they  attained  their  present  dimensions.     Tertullian  ex- 

*  It  would  appear  from  this  inscription  that  some  of  the  family  of 
Restitutus  were  still  pagans,  and  were  buried  apart  from  the  rest. 
The  early  Christians  regarded  it  as  unlawful  to  commingle  the  heathen 
and  believers  in  common  burial.  St.  Cyprian  makes  it  a  capital 
charge  against  the  heretical  Bishop  of  Asturia,  that  he  "buried  his 
children  in  profane  sepulchres  and  in  the  midst  of  stran  ,rs."  See 
also  Ruth  i,  17.   Compare  Cic,  de  Leg.^  ii,  22,  and  de  Off.^  lib.  ii. 


M 

ANTONl 

VS 

•      RESTVTV 

S    • 

FECIT  •  VPO 

GEV 

•   SIBI    •    ET 

SVIS 

•     FIDENTI 

BVS- 

IN -DOMINO. 

S6 


TJie  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


pressly  declares  that  the  provision  made  for  the  poor 
included  that  for  their  burial — egenis humandis* 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that,  even  from  the  very 
first,  the  Christian  Church  at  Rome  contained  not  a  few 
w>*:,  were  of  noble  blood  and  of  high  rank.  In  one  of 
the  apostolic  epistles  Paul  conveys  the  salutation  of 
Pudens,  a  Roman  Senator,  of  Linuv  reputed  the  first 
Roman  bishop,  and  of  Claudia,  daughter  of  a  British 
king ;  f  and  we  know  that  even  in  the  Golden  House  of 
Nero,  the  scene  of  that  colossal  orgy  whose  record  pol- 
lutes the  pages  of  Suetonius  and  Tacitus,  were  disciples 
of  the  crucified  Nazarene.  In  remarkable  confirmation 
of  this  fact  is  the  discovery  in  the  recent  explorations 
of  the  ruins  of  the  Imperial  Palace  of  several  Christian 
memorials,  including  one  of  those  lamps  adorned  with 
evangelical  symbols,  so  common  in  the  Catacombs. 
Much  of  the  evidence  on  this  subject  has  been  lost  by 
the  zealous  destruction  of  ecclesiastical  records  during 
the  terrible  Diocletian  persecution;  but  from  inscrip- 
tions in  the  Catacombs,  and  from  the  incidental  allu- 

♦  ApoL  xxxix.  The  following  inscription,  recently  discovered  in  the 
ruins  of  Caesarea,  a  Roman  town  in  Africa,  attests  the  provision 
made  by  wealthy  Christians  for  the  burial  of  their  poorer  neighbours : 

AREAM  AT  [ad]  SEPVLCHRA  CVLTOR  VERBI  CONTVLIT 
ET  CELLAM  STRVXIT  SVIS  CVNCTIS  SVMPTIBVS 
ECCLESIiC  SANCT^  HANC  RELIQVIT  MEMORIAM, 
SALVETEKRATRES  PVRO  CORDE  ET  SIMPLICI 
EV15L.PIVS  VOS  SATOS  SANCTO  SPIRITV. 
ECCLESIA  FRATRVM  HVNC  RESTITVIT  TITVLVM.   .   .   . 

A  worshipper  of  the  Word  has  given  this  area  for  sepulchres,  and 
has  built  a  vault  at  his  own  cost ;  he  left  this  memorial  to  the  Holy 
Church.  Hail,  brethren  !  with  a  pure  and  simple  heart,  Euelpius 
[salutes]  yon,  bom  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  congregation  of  the  brethren  replaced  this  inscription.  .  .  . 
•    f  2  Tim.  iv,  21.     Suet.,  FiV.,  Ner.^  c.  28,  29;  Tac,  Ann.y  xv,  37. 
See  also  Dio.,  Ixiii,  13. 


IH 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


S7 


sions  of  early  writers,  we  learn  that  persons  of  the  high- 
est position,  and  even  members  of  the  Imperial  family, 
were  associated  with  the  Christians  in  life  and  in  death. 
Some  of  the  noblest  names  of  Rome  occur  in  funeral 
epitaphs  in  some  of  the  most  ancient  galleries  of  the 
Catacombs.  There  is  evidence  that  even  during  the 
first  century  some  who  stood  near  .the  throne  became 
converts  to  Christianity,  and  even  died  as  martyrs  for 
the  faith  * 

But  doubtless  the  preservation  and  advancement  of 
true  religion  was  better  secured  amid  the  dark  recesses 
of  the  Catacombs,  during  the  fiery  persecution's  that 
befel  the  Church,  than  it  would  have  been  in  the  sun- 
shine of  imperial  favour,  in  an  age  and  court  unparalleled 
for  their  corruptions.  The  sad  decline  of  Christianity 
after  the  accession  of  Const? n tine  makes  it  a  matter  of 
congratulation  that  in  the  earlier  ages  it  was  kept  pure 
by  the  wholesome  breezes  of  adversity. 

The  new  religion,  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  that 
were  made  for  its  suppression,  rapidly  spread,  even  in 
the  high  places  of  the  earth.  "  We  are  but  of  yester- 
day," writes  Tertullian  at  the  close  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, "  yet  we  fill  every  city,  town,  and  island  of  the 
empire.  We  abound  in  the  very  vcamps  and  castles, 
in  the  council  chamber  and  the  palace,  in  the  senate 


*  E.  g.  Flavia  Domitilla,  the  niece  of  Domitian,  and  her  husband, 
Clemens.  Their  children  had  been  adopted  by  the  Emperor,  and 
designated  as  his  successors.  So  near  came  Christianity  to  grasping 
the  sceptre  of  the  Caesars  in  the  first  century.  Dio  Cass.,  Hist.,  Ixvii, 
13.  Suet,  in  Domit.,  xv.  The  niece  of  Domitilla,  also  of  the  same 
name,  suffered  exile  for  the  faith,  A.  D.  97.  She  gave  the  land  for 
the  Catacomb  which  still  bears  her  name. 

Marcia,  Mammaea,  the  mother  of  Alex.  Severus,  the  Emperor  Philip, 
and  Prisca  and  Valeria,  the  wife  and  daughter  of  the  arch -persecutor 
Diocletian,  either  embraced  or  greatly  favoured  Christianity. 


58 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


i 


and  the  forum ;  only  your  temples  and  theatres  •  are 
left."* 

It  is  evident  from  an  examination  of  the  earliest  Cat- 
acombs that  they  were  not  the  offspring  of  fear  on  the 
part  of  the  Christians.  There  was  no  attempt  at  se- 
crecy in  their  construction.  They  were,  like  the  pagan 
tombs,  situated  on  the  high  roads  entering  the  city. 
Their  entrances  were  frequently  protected  and  adorned 
by  elegant  structures  ot  masonry,  such  as  that  which  is 
still  visible  at  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Domitilla  on  the  Via 
Ardeatina ;  \  and  their  internal  decorations  and  frescoes, 
which  in  the  most  ancient  examples  are  of  classic  taste 
and  beauty,  were  manifestly  not  executed  by  stealth  and 
in  haste,  but  in  security  and  at  leisure. 

There  was,  in  classic  times,  a  sacred  character  at- 
tached to  all  places  set  apart  for  the  purposes  of  sepul- 
ture. They  enjoyed  the  especial  protection  of  the  law, 
and  were  invested  with  a  sort  of  religious  sanctity.  J 
This  protection  was  asserted  in  many  successive  edicts, 
and  the  heaviest  penalties  were  inflicted  on  the  viola- 
tors of  tombs,  as  guilty  of  sacrilege.  §  Reverence  for  the 
sepulchres  of  the  dead  was  regarded  by  the  ancient 
mind  as  a  religious  virtue ;  and  the  neglect  of  the  ances- 
tral tomb  even  involved  disability  for  municipal  office.  | 

*  Apol^  c.  37. 

X  Religiosum  locum  unusquisque  sua  voluntate  facit,  dum  mortuum 
infert  in  locum  suum.  Marciau.  Digest.^  i,  8,  6,  §  4. 

§  Cod.  yustin.,  lib.  ix,  tit.  19,  d€  Sepulchre  Violato^  leg.  I,  5  ;  Cod, 
Theod.y  lib.  ix,  tit.  17.  Proximum  sacrilegio  majores  semper 
habuerunt.    So  the  poet  exclaims : 

Res  ea  sacra,  miser ;  noli  mea  tangere  fata: 
Sacrilegae  bustis  abstinuere  manus. — 

•'Touch  not  my  monument,  thou  wretch  ;  it  is  a  sacred  thing :  even 
sacrilegious  hands  refrain  from  the  violation  of  graves." 

0  Xen.,  Mem.f  ii,  2,  §  13. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


59 


are 


I  even 


Being  situated  along  the  public  highway,  these  pagan 
tombs  were  liable  to  various  pollutions,  to  which  nu- 
merous inscriptions  refer.  Hence  the  frequent  cave 
VIATOR — "  Traveller,  beware  !  " — so  common  in  classic 
epitaphs.  The  scriptor  parce  hoc  opvs — "Writer, 
spare  this  work  " —  sometimes  met  with,  is,  as  Kenrick  well 
remarks,*  not  the  address  of  an  author  to  a  critic,  but  of 
a  relative  of  the  deceased,  entreating  the  wall-scribbler 
not  to  disfigure  a  tomb.  Electioneering  notices  were 
sometimes  written  upon  these  wayside  monuments  — 
a  practice   which    is  deprecated    in     the     following  • 

CANDIDATVS    FIAT    HONORATVS   ET   TV    FELIX  SCRIPTOR 

SI  Hic  NON  scRiPSERis — "  May  your  candidate  be  hon- 
oured and  yourself  happy,  O  writer,  if  you  write  not 
on  this  tomb !  "  inscriptor,  rogo  te  vt  transeas 
MONVMENTVM — "  Inscrlbcr,  I  pray  you  pass  by  this 
monument." 

As  these  sepulchral  areas,  often  of  considerable  ex- 
tent, were  taken  from  the  fields  in  the  vicinity  of  a 
great  city,  where  the  land  was  very  valuable  for  the 
purpose  of  tillage,  they  were  in  continual  danger  of  in- 
vasion from  the  cupidity  of  the  heirs  or  of  adjacent 
iand-owners,  but  for  this  legal  protection.  On  many  of 
the  cippi^  or  funereal  monuments,  which  line  the  public 
roads  in  the  vicinity  of  Rome,  the  extent  of  these  areas 
is  set  forth.  Some  of  them  are  quite  small,  as  is  indi- 
cated in  the  following  inscription  :  terrenvm  sacra- 
tvm  longvm  p[edes]  •  x«  lat  •  p[edes]  •  X .  fodere  noli  • 
NE  sacrilegivm  committas  f  —  "  A  consecrated  plot  of 
earth,  ten  feet  long  and  ten  feet  broad.  Do  not  dig 
here,  lest  you  commit  sacrilege." 

More  generally  the  size  of  the  area  is  expressed,  as 

*  Roman  Sepulchral  Inscriptions,  p.  9,  London,  1858. 


6o 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


in  the  following:  in  fronte  p[edes]  •  ix  in  agro 
p[edes]  •  X ;  that  is,  "  Frontage  on  the  road,  nine  feet ; 
depth  in  the  field,  ten  feet."  This  area,  small  as  it  is, 
was  designed  for  several  families.  The  limited  space 
occupied  by  the  cinerary  urns  rendered  this  quite  pos- 
sible. Frequently,  however,  the  size  was  much  larger. 
An  area  one  hundred  and  twenty -five  feet  square  would 
be  of  very  moderate  extent.  Horace  mentions  one  one 
thousand  feet  by  three  hundred,*  and  sometimes  they 
greatly  exceed  this,  as  one  on  the  Via  Labicana,  five  hun- 
dred by  eighteen  hundred  feet,  or  over  twenty  English 
acres.  There  were  also  frequently  exhedrcBy  or  seats  by 
the  wayside,  for  passers-by,  who  were  sometimes  ex- 
horted to  pause  and  read  the  inscription,  or  to  pour  a 
libation  for  the  dead,  as  in  the  following:  siste  via- 
tor TV  QVI  via  FLAMINIA  TRANSIS,  RESTA  AC  RELEGE  — 

"Stop,  traveller,  who  passest  by  on  the  Flaminian 
Way;  pause  and  read,  and  read  again!"  misce 
BiBE  DA  MiHi — ^"  Mix,  drink,  and  give  to  me."  vi- 
ATORES  SALVETE  ET  VALETE  —  "Travellers,  hail  and 
farewell." 

These  burial  plots  were  incapable  of  alienation 
or  transfer  from  the  families  for  whom  they  were  orig- 
inally set  apart;  who  are  sometimes  enumerated  in 
the  inscription,  or  more  generally  expressed  by  the 
formulae,  sibi  svisqve  fecit,  sibi  et  posteris  svis,  or 
with  the  addition,  libertis  libertabvsqve  posteris- 
QVE,  that  is,  "  He  made  this  for  himself  and  his  family," 
or  "  for  himself  and  his  descendants ; "  aho  "  for  his  freed- 
men  and  freedwomen  and  their  descendants."  Sometimes 
this  limitation  is  plainly  asserted  to  le,  vt  ne  vnqvam 

*  Mille  pedes  in  fronte,  trecentos  cippus  in  agrnm 
Hie  dabat ;  heredes  monumentum  ne  sequeretur. 

Hor.,  I  Sat.,  viii,  12. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


Ci 


DE  NOMINE  FAMILIAE  NOSTRAE  HOC  MONVMENTVM  EXEAT 

—  "That  this  monument  may  not  go  out  of  the  name 
of  our  family."  The  cupidity  of  the  inheritor  of  the  es- 
tate is  especially  guarded  against  by  the  ever-recurring 
formula,  h  .  m  •  H  •  N  •  s*,  that  is,  Hoc  monumentum  hare- 
dem  non  sequitur — "  This  monument  descends  not  to  the 
heir."  Sometimes  within  a  stately  mausoleum  reposed 
in  solitary  magnificence  the  dust  of  a  single  individ- 
ual, who  in  sullen  exclusiveness  declares  in  his 
epitaph  that  he  has  no  associate  even  in  the  grave, 
or  that    he    made    his    tomb    for   himself   alone  —  in 

HOC  MONVMENTO  SOCIVM  HABEO  NVLLVM,  Or,  HOC  SOLO 
SIBI  FECIT. 

The  violation  of  the  monument  is  earnestly  depre- 
cated in  numerous  inscriptions  in  some  such  terms  as 
these  :  rogo  per  decs  svperos  inferosqve  ne  velitis 
ossA  MEA  viOLARE  —  "I  bcscech  you,  by  the  supernal 
and  infernal  gods,  that  you  do  not  violate  my  bones." 
Sometimes  this  petition  is  accompanied  by  an  impreca- 
tion of  divine  vengeance  if  it  should  be  neglected,  as, 
Qvi  viOLAVERiT  DECS  SENTiAT  iRATos — "May  he  feel 
the  wrath  of  the  gods*  who  shall  have  violated  [this 
tomb.]  "    Another  invokes  the  fearful  curse,  qvisqvis 

HOC   SVSIVLERIT    AVT    LAESERIT    VLTIMVS   SVORVM   MO- 

RiATVRf — "Whoever  shall  take  away  or  injure  this 
[tomb]  let  him  die  the  last  of  his  race." 

From  a  distrust  of  posterity  many  erected  their  mon- 
uments during  their  life-time,  and  wrote  their  own 
epitaphs,  leaving  only  a  space  for  the  age.  This  is  some- 
times expressed  by  the  words,  sibi  vivvs  fecit,  or,  se 
VIVO,  se  vivis,  or  even  by  such  solecisms  as  me  vivvs,  or 
se  vivvs.  The  following  records  the  strange  fact  of  the 
erection  of  a  funereal  monument  by  one  living  person  to 
*  Literally,  "  the  angry  gods."  f  Reinesius. 


62 


\ 


\ 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


LOCO      FILIAE 

"To  Semira- 


another :    semiramiae    lic     iae    qvam 

DILIGO  OB  MERITA  EIVS  VIVVS  VIVAE  FECI- 

mia  Licinia,  whom  I  love  in  place  of  my  daughter :  on 
account  of  her  merits,  alive,  I  made  this  to  her  alive." 

These  classic  usages  have  been  thus  detailed  because 
traces  of  their  influence  may.  be  observed  in  many  prac- 
tices adopted  by  the  primitive  Christians,  and  because 
they  furnish  an  explanation  of  those  remarkable  immu- 
nities and  privileges  which  the  Catacombs  so  long  en- 
joyed. These  latter  were  constructed  in  separate  and 
limited  areas,  in  like  manner  as  the  pagan  sepulchres. 
De  Rossi  has  given  a  map  of  the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus,  in 
which  these  areas  are  accurately  defined.  They  vary 
in  size  and  shape,  that  of  the  crypt  of  St.  Lucina  being 
one  hundred  feet  in  fronte  and  one  hundred  and  eighty 
in  agroj  that  of  St.  Cecilia  two  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  in  fronte  and  one  hundred  in  agro,  and  others  still 
larger.  By  the  very  tenor  of  the  law  these  areas  en- 
joyed the  same  protection  as  those  of  the  pagan  sepul- 
chres, of  which  protection  it  required  a  special  edict 
to  deprive  them.  Even  when  Christianity  fell  under 
the  ban  of  persecution  that  freedom  of  sepulture  was 
not  at  first  interfered  with.  Having  wreaked  his  cruel 
rage  upon  the  living  body,  the  pagan  magistrate  at  least 
did  not  deny  right  of  burial  to  the  martyr's  mutilated 
remains.  A  beneficent  Roman  law  declared  that  the 
bodies  even  of  those  who  died  by  the  hand  of  the  public 
executioner  might  be  given  up  to  any  who  asked  for 
them.*  So  that  even  the  sentence  of  outlawry  against 
the  Christians  did  not  affect  the  bodies  of  the  dead. 
Indeed,  we  know  from  ecclesiastical  history  that  fre- 
quently the  faithful  received  the  remains  of  the  martyrs 

*  Corpora  ar  -madversorum  quibuslibet  petentibus  ad  sepulturain 
danda  sunt.     Digest. ^  xlviii,  24,  2. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History, 


63 


on 


and  gave  them  Christian  burial.  It  was  not  till  the 
third  century,  when  the  pagan  opposition  to  Christianity 
became  intense  and  bitter,  that  the  persecutors  waged 
war  upon  the  dead.  Although  both  Diocletian  and  Max- 
imian  confirmed  the  decree  just  cited,  it  often  happened 
that,  in  order  that  the  Christians  might  not  have  even 
the  melancholy  consolation  of  gathering  up  the  martyrs* 
bones,  and  honouring  the  remains  of  their  fallen  heroes, 
those  sacred  relics  were  denied  the  rites  of  sepil'  re 
which  were  freely  accorded  to  the  body  of  the  vilest 
malefactor. 

These  areas.  Christian  as  well  as  pagan,  were  under 
the  guardianship  of  the  Roman  Pontifices^  who,  although 
pagans,  were  actually  confirmed  in  their  authority  by  the 
Christian  Emperor  Constans.  In  consequence  of  this 
protection  the  Christians  were  enabled  to  conduct  their 
worship  and  celebrate  their  agapa  in  the  oratories  or 
other  buildings  erected  over  the  Catacombs,  the  ruins 
of  which  are  still  to  be  seen  at  the  Catacombs  of  St. 
Domitilla  and  Sts.  Nereus  and  Achilles,  and  which  to  the 
popular  apprehension  would  seem  to  correspond  to  the 
pagan  structures  for  the  celebration  of  funeral  banquets. 
Even  when  oppressed  and  persecuted  above  ground, 
they  found  a  sanctuary  beneath  its  surface,  and  were 
permitted  by  the  ignorance  or  indifference  of  their  foes 
to  worship  God  among  the  holy  dead.  So  long  as  their 
sepulchral  areas  were  uninvaded  the  Christians  scrupu- 
lously abstained  from  extending  their  excavations  be- 
yond their  respective  limits,  digging  lower //V7«/ instead, 
when  insatiate  death  demanded  room  for  still  more  graves. 
But  when  the  ruthlass  persecutor  pursued  them  even  be- 
neath the  earth,  they  felt  at  liberty  to  transcend  those 
limits  and  burrow  in  any  direction  for  safety  or  escape. 

The  Christian  inscriptions  often  strongly  deprecate 


C4 


The  Catacombs  of  Rotnc. 


1 1 


I'.jc  violation  of  the  graves  to  which  they  are  at- 
tached, in  like  manner  as  we  have  seen  in  pagan  epi- 
taphs, and  against  this  crime  the  Fathers  intensely 
inveigh.  Sometimes  the  petition  assumes  a  most  sol- 
emn character,  as  this :  [adivro]  vos  per  c[h]ristvm, 

NE     MIHI     AB      ALIQVO     VIOLENTIAM      [j/V]     FIAT     ET     NE 

SEPVLCRVM  MEVM  viOLETVR  —  "[I  conjure]  you  by 
Christ  that  no  violence  be  offered  me  by  any  one,  and 
that  tny  sepulchre  may  not  be  violated."  Still  more 
awful  in  its  adjuration  is  the  following :   conivro  vos 

PER    TREMENDVM    DIEM     IVDICII     VT    HANC    SEPVLTVRAM 

NVLLI  VIOLENT*  —  "I  conjure  you  by  the  dreadful  day 
of  judgment  that  no  one  violate  this  sepulchre." 

Sometimes  a  most  terrible  imprecation  is  expressed, 
as  in  the  following : 

MALE  •  PEREAT  •  IN8EPVLTVS 

lACEAT  •  NON  •  RESVRGAT 

CVM  •  IVDA  •  PARTEM  •  HABEAT 

SI  •  QVIS  •  SEPVLCHRVM  •  HVNC  •  VIOLAVERIT  — 

If  any  one  shall  violate  this  sepulchre, 

Let  him  perish  miserably  and  remain  unhuried; 

Let  him  lie  down  and  not  rise  again, 

Let  him  have  his  portion  with  Judas.t 

. . .  .[emi]  gravit  ad  xpm 

. .  .  .sepvlcrvm  viol  are 

.  . .  .sit  alienvs  a  regno  del 

........    Has  departed  to  Christ.     [If  any  one  dare]  to  violate  this 

sepulchre,  let  him. . .  .and  be  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God4 

*  Both  of  these  are  given  by  Dr.  McCaul  in  his  Christian  Epi' 
tap/is  of  tfu  First  Six  Centuries^  an  admirable  little  volume,  my 
indebtedness  to  which  will  be  elsewhere  acknowledged.  He  also 
quotes  the  following  from  Henzen's  luscr,  Lat.  Select.  Col.,  No.  6371  : 

PETO  A  BOBIS  [VOBIS]  FRATRES   BONI  PER  VNVM  OEVM  NEQVIS  VI  TI- 

TVLO  MOLESTET  POST  MORTEM  — "  I  beseech  you,  good  brothers,  by  the 
one  God,  that  no  one  by  force  injure  this  inscription  after  my  death." 

f  Aringhi,  lib.  iv,  c.  xxvii. 

X  Sometimes  an  anathema  was  invoked  upon  the  disturber  of  the 


I 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History, 


65 


It  is  probable  that  this  dread  of  the  violation  of  the 
grave  arose,  in  part  at  least,  from  the  fear  that  the  disper- 
sion of  the  remains  might  impede  the  resurrection  of  the 
body ;  and  also  from  that  natural  aversion  to  the  disturb- 
ance of  the  slumbering  dust,  so  passionately  expressed 
on  the  tombstone  of  England's  greatest  dramatist.* 

We  sometimes  find  also  the  announcement  upon  Chris- 
tian as  well  as  upon  pagan  tombs,  that  they  have  been 
prepared  while  the  tenants  were  yet  alive,  as  in  the  fol- 
lowing: Locvs  BASiLiONis  SE  BiBo  FECIT  —  "The  place 
of  Basilio,  he  made  it  when  alive;"  sabini  bisomvm  se 

BIBVM    FECIT  SIBI  IN  CEMETERIVM    BALBINAE  IN  CRVPTA 

NOB  A  \_sic\  —  "The  bisomus  of  Sabinus,  he  made  it  for 
himself  during  his  life-time,  in  the  cemetery  of  Balbina, 
in  the  new  crypt."  As  Sabinus  could  only  occupy  one 
half  of  this,  the  other  half  was  probably  intended  for  his 
wife.  Observe  in  the  following  the  beautiful  euphemism 
for  the  grave.     It  is  calmly  chosen  as  the  last  long  home, 


grave,  as  in  the  following  interesting  example,  found  in  the  island  of 
Salamis,  knd  quoted  by  Dr.  McCaul  from  Kirchoff,  Corpus.  Inscript. 
GrtcCf  No.  9303  r  OZxof  aluvio^  ^K^uBuvo^  uvayvuarov  Kai  Ev^^fiia( 
h>  dvac  d^Kai^  hUif.  fKuar^  iinuv  El  di  riq  tuv  iSiuv  t/  iTei)6f  rtp 
Tcikioja^  oufia  Karadeadat  ivravOa  irapi^  tuv  dvu  ^/lijv,  Xoyov  d^i;  r^ 
deift  Kai  uvdOe/ia  ijTu  fiapavzfidv — "The  everlasting  dwelling  of 
Agatho,  a  reader,  and  P^uphemia,  in  two  graves,  one  for  each  of  us 
separately.  If  any  one  of  our  relatives,  or  any  one  else,  shall  pre- 
sume to  bury  a  body  here  beside  us  two,  may  he  give  an  account  of 
it  to  God,  and  may  he  be  anathema  maranatha." 

*  It  is  remarkable  that  Shakespeare's  epitaph  should  present  almost 
as  uncouth  a  specimen  of  epigraphy  as  any  of  the  barbarous  inscrip- 
tions of  the  Catacombs.  See  the  following  copy : 

Good  Friend  for  lesus  SAKE  forbeare 
To  diGG  T-E  Dust  EncloAsed  HERe 
Blest  be  T-E  Man  '*'  spares  T-es  Stones 

And  curst  be  He  '^^  moves  my  Bcmws. 
V  - 

5 


IT  W. 


60 


TAe  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


AvRTU  R  1/  S 
UIXLTAA/UD/V 

XqiEUXlTD 

0/yWV\UIUSINPACF 

Fler.  19.— Epitaph  ft>om  Lapidarian 
Gallery.* 


as  the  "  house  ap- 
pointed for  all  liv- 
ing." (Fig.  19.*) 

But  there  was 
another  and  still 
more  remarkable 
resemblance  be- 
tween the  funeral 
usages  of  the  pa- 
gans and  Chris- 
tians than  any 
yet  mentioned, 
and  one  which 
greatly  contributed  to  the  freedom  of  action  and  secur- 
ity of  the  latter.  There  is  aL  mdant  monumental 
and  other  evidence  of  the  existence  in  Rome,  in  the 
time  of  the  later  Republic  and  of  the  Empire,  of  certain 
funeral  confraternities — collegia^  as  they  were  called — 
much  like  the  modern  burial  clubs.  A  remarkable 
inscription  of  the  time  of  Hadrian,  A.  D.  103,  found  at 
Lavigna,  nineteen  miles  from  Rome,  on  the  Appian 
Way,  gives  an  insight  into  their  constitution  and  objects. 
With  much  legal  tautology  it  sets  forth  the  privilege  of 
this  collegium  of  the  worshippers  of  Di  tna  and  the  new 
divinity  Antinous  appointed  by  a  dociee  of  the  Roman 
Senate  and  people,  to  assemble,  convene,  and  have  an 
association  for  the  burial  of  the  dead.f     The  members 


•  Maitland  reads  thus :    in  christo.    martyrivs  vixit  annos 

XCI  PLVS  MINVS  ELEXIT  DOMVM  VIVVS.  IN  PACE.  —  "In  Christ. 
Martyrius  lived  ninety-one  years,  more  or  less.  He  chose  a  horne 
during  his  life-time.     In  peace." 

t  Collegium  salutare  Dianae  et  Antinoi,  constitutum  nx  Senatus 
Populique  Romani  decreto,  quibus  coire,  convenire,  collegiumqne 
habere  'iceat.      Qui  stipem  menstruam  conferre  volent  in  funera,  in 


F 


Tfteir  Origin  and  Early  History, 


67 


of  this  confraternity  were  to  pay  for  that  purpose  a 
hundred  sesterces  at  entrance,  besides  an  amphora  of 
good  wine,  and  five  ases  a  month  thereafter,*  all  of 
which  was  forfeited  by  the  non-payment  of  the  monthly 
dues.  Three  hundred  sesterces  were  expended  on  the 
funeral,  fifty  of  which  were  to  be  distributed  at  the 
cremation  of  the  body.  If  a  member  died  at  a  distance 
from  Rome  three  of  the  confraternity  were  sent  to  fetch 
the  body.  Even  if  they  failed  to  obtain  it  the  funeral 
rites  were  duly  paid  to  an  effigy  of  the  deceased.  There 
was  also  provision  made  for  the  members  dining  together 
on  anniversary  and  other  occasions  according  to  rules 
duly  prescribed  by  the  collegium. 

The  names  of  very  many  of  these  collegia  have  been 
preserved,  each  of  which  consisted  of  the  members  of 
a  similar  profession  or  handicraft.  Thus  we  have  the 
Collegium  Medicorum,  the  association  of  the  physicians ; 
Aurificum^  of  the  gold-workers ;  Tignariorum^  of  the  car- 
penters ;  Dendropfwrorum^  of  the  wood-fellers  ;  Pellion- 
ariorum,  of  the  furriers ;  Nautarum^  of  the  sailors ;  Pab- 
ulariorum,  of  the  forage  merchants ;  Aurigariorum^  of 
the  charioteers ;  and  Utriculariorum^  of  the  bargemen. f 

They  were  frequently  also  connected  by  the  bond  of 
nationality  or  of  common  religious  observance,  as  Col- 
legium Germanorum^  the  association  of  t'le  Germans; 
Pastophororum^  of  the  priests  of  Isis ;  Serapidis  et  Isidis^ 
of  Serapis  and  Isis ;  ^sculapii  et  Hygeice^  of  ^Esculapius 
and  Hygeia.  %  Sometimes  they  were  Cultores  Venerisy 
JoviSy  Herculis^  worshippers  of  Venus,  Jupiter,  Hercules, 
or,  as  we  have  seen,  of  Diana  and  Antinous. 

id  collegium  coeant,  neque  sub  specie  ejus  collegii  nisi  semel  in  mense 
coeaut,  conferendi  causa  unde  defuncti  sepeliantur. 

*  The  sesterce,  or  sestertius,  was  about  2d  •  5  farthings,  the  as  about 
3d  •  4  farthiu^j.     The  amphora  held  about  six  gallons. 

t  Miiratori,  torn,  ii,  classis  vii,  Collegia  Varia.  X  ^^*d. 


68 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


These  associations  were  often  favoured  with  especial 
privileges,  immunities,  and  rights,  like  those  of  incorpo- 
ration, such  as  the  holding  of  territorial  property.  De 
Rossi  has  shown,  by  ample  citations,  that  the  emperors, 
who  were  always  opposed  to  associations  among  the 
citizens,  made  a  special  exemption  in  favour  of  these 
funeral  clubs.* 

By  conformity  to  the  constitution  of  these  corpora- 
tions the  Christian  church  had  peculiar  facilities  for  the 
burial  of  its  dead,  and  even  for  the  celebration  of  relig- 
ious worship.  Indeed,  it  has  been  suggested,  and  is  highly 
probable,  that  it  was  under  the  cover  of  these  funeral  asso- 
ciations that  toleration  was  conceded,  first  to  the  sepul- 
chres, then  to  the  churches.  Tertullian  describes  the 
practice  of  the  Christian  community  in  the  second  cen- 
tury as  follows :  "  Every  one  offers  a  small  contribution 
on  a  certain  day  of  the  month,  or  when  he  chooses,  and 
as  he  is  able,  for  no  one  is  compelkd ;  it  is  a  voluntary 
offering.  This  is  our  common  fund  for  piety ;  for  it  is 
not  expended  in  feasting  and  drinking  and  in  wanton 
excesses,  but  in  feeding  and  burying  the  poor ^  in  support- 
ing orphans,  aged  persons,  and  such  as  are  shipwrecked, 
or  such  as  languish  in  mines,  in  exile,  or  in  prison."! 
Thus  the  Ecdesia  Fratruniy  the  "  Congregation  of  the 
Brethren,"  who  restored  the  funeral  monument  described 
on  page  fifty-six,J  suggests  the  pagan  college  of  the  Fra- 


\ 


*  Trajan  regarded  with  suspicion  even  fire  brigades  and  charitable 
societies,  (Pliny.  X  Epis.  43  et  94,)  and  forbade  the  assemblies  of  the 
Christians,  but  permitted  the  monthly  contribution  of  the  clubs — Per- 
mittitur  tenuioribus  stipem  menstruam  conferre.    Digest.^  xlvii,  22,  I. 

\  Modicam  unusquisque  stipem  menstrua  die^  vel  quum  velit,  et  si 
modo  velit,  et  si  modo  possit,  apponit :  nam  nemo  compellitur,  sed 
sponte  confert  .  .  .  Nam  inde  non  epulis  .  .  .  sed  egenis  alendis 
htimandisqne  .  .  .  etc.     Tert.,  Apol.y  c.  39. 

X  See  first  footnote. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


69 


tres  Arvales;  and  the  Cultor  Verbis  or  worshipper  of  the 
Divine  Word,  in  the  same  inscription,  would  seem  to  the 
heathen  magistrate  analogous  to  the  Cultores  Jovis  or 
Cultores  Diana  of  the  ragan  collegia^  Indeed,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  decide  from  the  names  of  some  of  these  associa- 
tions whether  they  were  Chri^t^iin  or  pagan.  Thus  we 
read  of  the  Collegium  convictoi'um  qui  una  epulo  vesci  solent 
— "The  fraternity  of  table-ccnpanions  who  are  accus- 
tomed to  feast  together."  De  Rossi  suggests  that  there 
may  be  here  a  covert  reference  tr>  a  Christian  community, 
and  probably  to  the  celebration  of  the  Agape  or  of  the 
Eucharist.*  Another  is  the  Collegium  quod  est  in  domo 
Sergice  Paulina  —  "  The  association  which  is  in  the  house 
of  Sergia  Paulina."  This  possibly  may  have  been  a 
Christian  community,  like  "  the  church  which  was  in 
the  house  "  of  Priscilla  and  Aquila.f 

That  the  primitive  Christians  availed  themselves  of 
the  privilege;*  granted  to  the  funeral  associations,  is  con- 
firmed by  a  discovery  made  by  De  Rossi  in  the  Ceme- 
tery of  St.  Domitilla  in  the  year  1865,  and  already  re- 
ferred to.  At  the  entrance  was  found  a  chamber,  with 
stone  seats  like  the  schola^  or  place  of  meeting  of  the 
pagan  tombs  where  the  religious  confraternity  celebrated 
the  funeral  banquet  of  the  deceased.  Here  the 
Christians  celebrated  instead  the  Agape^  or  Feast  of 
Charity,  and  the  Natalitia^  or  anniversary  of  th«  martyrs 
who  were  buried  there,  just  as  the  pagan  associations 
commemorated  the  anniversaries  of  their  deceased 
patrons.* 

The  ancient  privileges  of  these  collegia  were  confirmed 
by  an  edict  of  Septimius  Severus  about  the  year  A.  D. 
200.  It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  precisely  at  this 
time  Zephyrinus,  bishop  of  Rome,  appointed  Callixtus 

*  BuiUttinOy  1864,  62.  f  Rom.  xvi,  5,  3. 


TO 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


w  * 


''. 


to  be  "  guardian  of  the  cemetery,"  as  well  as  head  of 
the  clergy.*  In  order  to  secure  to  the  funeral  associa- 
tion the  protection  of  the  law  it  was  necessary  that  one 
of  its  members  should  be  appointed  agent  or  "  syndic,** 
by  whom  its  business  should  be  transacted,  and  in  whose 
name  its  property  should  be  held.f  Thus  Callixtus  be- 
came the  syndic  of  the  public  cemetery  of  the  church, 
which  still  bears  his  name.  De  Rossi  conjectures  that 
this  was  the  first  cemetery  set  apart  for  the  use  of 
the  whole  Christian  community.  Hence  it  was  taken 
under  the  care  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  and 
became,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  the  burying-place 
of  the  Roman  bishops,  and  the  especial  property  of  the 
church.  X 

We  will  now  trace  briefly  the  history  of  those  perse- 
<-utions  which  glutted  the  Catacombs  with  victims,  and 
at  times  drove  the  church  for  sanctuary  to  their  deep- 
est recesses.  We  have  seen  that  Christianity  grew  up 
under  the  protection  accorded  to  Judaism  as  one  of 
the  tolerated  religions  of  Rome.  But  this  toleration 
did  not  long  continue.  In  Rome  as  well  as  elsewhere 
the  new  creed  was  doomed  to  a  baptism  of  blood.  The 
causes  of  this  persecution  are  not  far  to  seek.  The  Chris- 
tian doctrine  spread  rapidly,  and  early  excited  the  jeal- 
ousy of  the  Roman  authorities  by  its  numerous  converts 
from  the  national  faith,  many  of  whom  were  of  exalted 
rank.  These  carefully  refrained  from  the  idolatrous 
adulation  by  which  the  servile  mob  were  wont  to  express 

*  Philosophoumena^  ix,  1 1. 

f  Actorem  sive  syndicum,  per  quem,  quod  communiter  agi  fierique 
oporteat,  agatur,  fiat. — Digest.^  iii,  4,  I,  §  I. 

t  E  veramente  chc  almeno  fino  dal  secolo  terzo  i  fideli  abbiano  pos- 
siduto  cemeteii  a  nome  commune,  e  che  il  loro  possesso  sia  stato 
riconosciuto  dagl'  imperatori,  h  cosa  impossibile  a  negare. — De  Rossi^ 
Rom.  Sott.f  torn,  i,  p.  103. 


! 

t 

f 


Their  Origin  and  Early  Structure, 


71 


their  loyalty  to  the  imperial  monster  who  aspired  to  be  a 
god.  Hence  they  were  accused  of  disaffection,  of  trea- 
son.* They  were  the  enemies  of  Caesar,  and  of  the 
Roman  people. f  They  were  supposed  to  exert  a  malign 
influence  on  the  course  of  nature.  If  it  did  not  rain 
the  Christians  were  to  blame. J  "If  the  Tiber  over- 
flows its  banks,"  says  TertuUian,  "  or  the  Nile  does  not ; 
if  there  be  drought  or  earthquakes,  famine  or  pestilence, 
the  cry  is  raised,  '  The  Christians  to  the  lions  /  * "  §  If  the 
pecking  of  tL-  sacred  chickens  or  the  entrails  of  the  sac- 
rificial victims  gave  unfavourable  omens,  it  was  attributed 
to  the  counter  spell  of  "  the  atheists."  At  Rome,  as  well 
asatEphesus  and  Philippi,  the  selfish  fears  of  the  shrink 
and  image  makers,  whose  "  craft  was  in  danger,"  and  the 
hostility  of  the  priests  and  dependents  on  the  idol- 
\  Drship,  inspired  or  intensified  the  opposition  to  Chris- 
tianity, as  did  also  the  jealousy  of  the  Jews,  who 
regarded  with  especial  hostility  the  believers  in  the 
lowly  Nazarene,  whom  their  fathers  with  wicked  hands 
had  crucified  and  slain.  | 

The  terrible  conflagration  which  destroyed  the  greater 
part  of  the  city  during  the  reign  of  Nero  was  made  the 
excuse  for  the  first  outburst  of  persecution  against  the 
Christian  community.     By  public  rumour  this  deed  was 


*  The  dreaded  crimen  majestatis. 

\  Hostes  Csesarum,  hostes  populi  Romani. 

X  Non  pluit  Deus,  due  ad  Christianos. — Aug.,  Civ.  Dei,  ii,  3, 

§  Si  Tiberis  ascendit  in  mcenia,  si  Nilus  non  ascendit  in  arva,  si 
coelum  stetit,  si  terra  movit,  si  fames,  si  lues,  statim,  '*  Christianos  ad 
leones." — Apol.^x.  "But  I  pray  you,"  he  adds,  "were  misfortunes 
unknown  before  Tiberius  ?  The  true  God  was  not  worshipped  when 
Hannibal  conquered  at  Cannae,  or  the  Gauls  filled  the  city." 

II  Eusebius  describes  their  activity  in  bringing  wood  and  straw 
from  the  shops  and  baths  for  the  burning  of  Polycarp.  Eccl. 
Hist.t  iv.  15, 


It  I 


7a 


The  Catacombs  of  Rame, 


attributed  to  Nero  himself.  "  To  put  an  end  to  this  re- 
port," says  Tacitus,  "  he  laid  the  guilt,  and  inflicted  the 
most  cruel  punishment,  upon  these  men,  who,  already 
branded  with  infamy,  were  called  by  the  vulgar.  Chris- 
tians. .  .  .  Their  sufferings  at  their  executions,"  he 
adds,  "  were  aggravated  by  insult  and  mockery ;  for 
some  were  sewn  up  in  the  skins  of  wild  beasts,  and  wor- 
ried to  death  by  dogs ;  some  were  crucified,  and  some, 
wrapped  in  garments  of  pitch,  were  burned  as  torches  to 
illumine  the  night."* 

During  this  persecution  St.  Paul  fell  a  victim,  A.  D. 
64.  He  was  beheaded  "  without  the  gate,"  on  the  Ostian 
"Way,  and  weeping  friends  took  up  his  bleeding  corpse 
and  laid  it,  according  to  tradition,  in  one  of  the  most 
ancient  crypts  of  an  adjoining  Catacomb,  where  Euse- 
bius  asserts  that  his  tomb  could  be  seen  in  his  day.f 

From  this  time  Christianity  was  exposed  to  outbursts 
of  heathen  rage,  and  express  decrees  were  published 
against  it.  J  No  longer  sharing  the  protection  of  Juda- 
ism, it  fell  under  the  ban  of  the  empire.  At  times  the 
rage  of  persecution  slumbered,  and  again  it  burst  forth 
with  inextinguishable  fury.  But,  like  the  typical  bush 
that  "  flourished  unconsumed  in  fire,"  the  Christian  faith 
but  grew  and  spread  the  more.    Yet  the  sword  ever  im- 

*  Ergo  abolendo  rumori  Nero  subdedit  reos  ft  qutesitissimis 
poenis  affecit,  quos  per  flagitia  invisos  vulgus  Chiistianos  appellabat. 
.  .  .  Et  pereuntibus  addita  ludibria,  ut  ferarum  terg^s  contectilaniatu 
canum  interierint,  aut  crucibus  aflixi,  aut  flammandi  iitque,  ubi  de- 
feciaset  dies,  in  usum  nocturni  luminis  urerentur. — Anp.,  xv,  44. 

f  A  telegraphic  despatch  from  Rome  of  date  January  16,  1873;, 
announces  that  the  Pope  claims  to  have  discovered  the  bodies  of  th^ 
apostles  Philip  and  James.  Highly  improbable,  and  of  no  practic^ 
importance  if  true.  Not  the  bones  of  the  saints  buried  centuifies 
ago,  but  the  spirit  which  t^nimated  them  j^nd  the  principles  fpr  wh^c^ 
they  died,  are  the  true  sources  of  the  church's  po\ve|'. 

X  Sulpic.   Sever.,  /fist ,  ii,  ^\. 


W 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


n 


pended  over  the  church.  Sometimes  its  stroke  was  for 
a  time  deferred,  when  the  little  flock  took  courage  and 
rejoiced ;  but  often  it  fell  with  crushing  weight,  smiting 
the  shepherds  and  scattering  the  sheep.  One  of  these 
periods  of  rest  extended  from  the  time  of  the  Neronian 
persecution  till  near  the  end  of  the  century,  when  Do- 
mitian,  "a  second  Nero,"*  stretched  forth  his  hand 
again  to  vex  the  saints.  During  the  short  reign  of  the 
"  justice-loving  Nerva  "  the  Christians  again  enjoyed 
repose,  so  that  Lactantius  even  asserts  that  they  were 
restored  to  all  their  former  privileges. 

To  the  first  century  De  Rossi  refers  the  construction 
of  at  least  three  or  four  of  the  Catacombs.  These  are, 
(i)  the  Cemetery  of  Priscilla,  excavated,  according  to 
an  ancient  tradition,  in  the  property  of  the  Roman 
Senator  Pudens,  mentioned  by  St.  Paul,  and  in  which,  it 
is  said,  were  interred  his  daughters  Pudentiana  and 
Praxides;  (2)  the  Catacomb  of  Domitilla,  the  grand- 
niece  of  the  Emperor  Domitian,  in  which  she  herself 
was  buried,  together  with  her  chamberlains  Nereus  and 
Achilles,  who  were  beheaded  for  their  steadfastness  in 
the  Christian  faith ;  (3)  the  Crypt  of  Lucina,  afterwards 
part  of  the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus,  in  which  some  of  the 
most  ancient  inscriptions  have  been  found.  De  Rossi 
conjectures  that  this  lady  is  the  same  as  the  Pomponia 
Graecina  before  mentioned,  the  wife  of  Plautius,  the  con- 
queror of  Britain.  (4)  De  Rossi  is  also  of  the  opinion 
that  he  has  discovered  another,  and  the  oldest  ot  all  the 
Catacombs,  dating  from  the  very  times  of  the  apostles 
themselves,  in  that  known  as  the  Fons  Petri,  or  the 
Cemetery  of  the  Font  of  Peter,  in  which  tradition  as- 
serts that  he  himself  baptized.  The  classical  style  of  the 
arthiti^cture,  frescoes,  and  graceful  stucco  wreaths  and 

♦  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccles.,  iii,  17.    A.  D.  93-96. 


74 


The  Catacombs  of  Rotne, 


garlands,  and  the  .character  of  the  inscriptions,  all  point 
to  a  very  ancient  period,  before  art  had  degenerated,  and 
before  long-continued  persecution  had  banished  Chris- 
tianity into  seclusion  and  poverty. 

The  law  of  Trajan  against  secret  assemblies,  synchro- 
nous with  the  opening  of  the  second  century,  gave  a 
new  occas'on  of  persecuting  the  Church.  With  such 
sever'  '  was  this  done  that,  according  to  Pliny,  the 
desert  tea  oles  became  again  frequented,  and  their 
neglected  rite^  '  ,vived.* 

The  Emperor  Hadrian  is  described  by  his  contempo- 
raries as  diligently  practising  the  Roman  rites,  and 
despising  all  foreign  religions.f  Although  he  restrained 
the  tumultuous  attacks  of  the  populace  upon  the  Chris- 
tians, he  nevertheless  favoured  their  legal  prosecution.| 

The  following  epitaph  given  by  Maitland  com- 
memorates a  martyrdom  of  this  reign.  The  last  sen- 
tence seems  to  imply  that  it  was  erected  in  a  time  of 
actual  persecution  ;  but  no  dated  example  of  the  mono- 
gram which  accompanies  it  appears  before  the  time  of 
Constantine.     The  inscription  was  probably  written  long 

*  Prope  jam  desolata  templa  coepisse  celebrari ;  et  sacra  solennia 
diu  intermissa  repeti. — Epis.  ad  Traj.  Among  the  most  distin- 
guished sufferers  during  this  persecution  was  Clement,  third  bishop 
of  Rome,  exiled  to  Pontus,  and,  it  is  said,  cast  into  the  seat 
A.  D.  103 ;  also  the  venerable  Ignatius,  bishop  of  the  church 
at  Antioch,  linked  by  tradition  with  the  Saviour  himself,  as  one 
of  the  children  whom  he  took  in  his  arms  and  blessed.  Con- 
demned by  Trajan  to  exposure  to  wild  beasts  in  the  amphitheatre  at 
Rome,  a  passion  for  martyrdom  possessed  his  soul.  "  Suffer  me  to  be 
the  food  of  the  wild  beasts,"  he  exclaimed,  "  by  whom  I  shall  attain 
unto  God.  For  I  am  the  wheat  of  God ;  and  I  shall  be  ground  by 
the  teeth  of  wild  beasts  that  I  may  become  the  pure  bread  of  Christ." 
'—Epis.  ad  Romanos,  §§  4,  5. 

t  Sacra  Romana  diligentissime  curavit,  peregrina  contempsit. — Spar« 
tian,  in  Hadrian.     A.  D.  1 17-138. 

X  Euseb.,  Hist.  Erc/es ,  iv,  9.     Jus.  Mar.,  Apnf.,  i,  68,  69. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


75 


after  the  death  of  Marius,  or  the  monogram  may  have 
been  added  by  a  later  hand : 


TEMPORE  ADRIANI  IMFERATORIS  MARIVS 
ADOLESCENS  DVX  MILITVM  QVI  SATIS  VIXIT 
DVM  VITAM  PRO  CHO  CVM  SANGVINE  CON 
SVNSIT  IN  PACE  TANDEM  QVIEVIT  BENE 
MERENTES  CVM  LACRIMIS  £T  METV  POSVE 
RVNT  I.  D.  VI. 


X 


<} 


In  Christ.  In  the  time  of  the  E-  ^^eror  Hadrian,  Marius,  a  young 
military  officer,  who  had  lived  long  no-  h,  when,  with  his  blood,  he 
gave  up  his  life  for  Christ.  At  leng.i*  he  rested  in  peace.  The 
well-dsserving  set  up  this  with  tears  and  in  fear,  on  the  6th,  Ides 
of  December. 

In  this  reign  also  suffer  ^  Alexander,  bishop  of  Rome, 
whose  tomb  has  been  found  on  the  Nomentan  Way, 
together  with  Eventius  and  Theodulus,  a  presbyter  and 
deacon. 

Under  the  humane  and  equitable  Antoninus  Pius,* 
Christianity  seems  to  have  enjoyed  a  partial  toleration, 
although  the  edict  of  Trajan  was  still  unrevoked.  Yet 
several  outbreaks  of  popular  fury  against  the  Chris- 
tians took  place,  and  in  the  very  first  year  of  his  reign 
Telesphorus,  the  bishop  of  the  church  at  Rome,  suf- 
fered martyrdom,  t 

One  of  the  strangest  phenomena  in  history  is  the  per- 
secution of  the  primitive  church  by  the  philosophical 
emperor  Marcus  Aurelius,  J  whose  "  Meditations  "  seem 
almost  like  the  writings  of  an  apostle  in  their  praise  of 
virtue,  yearning  for  abstract  perfection,  and  contempt  of 
pomp  and  pleasure.  Nevertheless,  he  was  one  of  the 
most  systematic  and  heartless  of  all  the  oppressors  of 
the  Christian  faith — a  faith  so  much  loftier  than  even 


*  A.  D,  138-161.         f  Irenxnis,  ill,  3,  § 


{A.  D.  i6i-i8o. 


V    ! 


tl! 


76 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


his  high  philosophy,  and  yet  having  so  much  akin.  With 
the  cool  acerbity  of  a  stoic,  he  resolved  to  exterminate 
the  obnoxious  doctrines.  An  active  inquisition  for  the 
Christians  was  set  on  foot,  and  the  odious  system  of 
domestic  espionage,  which  even  Trajan  had  forbidden, 
was  encouraged.  Shameless  informers,  greedy  for  gain, 
fed  their  rapacity  on  the  confiscated  spoils  of  the  be- 
lievers, whom  they  plundered,  says  Melito,  by  day  and  by 
night.  Though  gentle  to  other  classes  of  offenders,  and 
even  to  rebels,  Aurelius  exceeded  in  barbarity  the  most 
ruthless  of  his  predecessors  in  the  refinements  of  tor- 
ture, by  rack  and  scourge,  by  fire  and  stake,  employed 
to  enforce  the  recantation  of  the  Christians ;  and  every 
year  of  his  long  reign  was  polluted  with  innocent 
blood. 

From  Gaul  to  Asia  Minor  raged  the  storm  of  perse- 
cution. The  earthquakes,  floods,  and  famine,  the  wars 
and  pestilence,  that  wasted  the  empire,  were  visited  upon 
the  hapless  Christians,  who  were  immolated  in  heca- 
tombs as  the  causes  of  these  dire  calamities.  From  the 
crowded  amphitheatre  of  Smyrna  ascended,  as  in  a  chariot 
of  fire,  the  soul  of  the  apostolic  bishop  Polycarp.  The 
arrowy  Rhone  ran  red  with  martyrs*  blood.  The  names 
of  the  venerable  Pothinus,  of  the  youthful  Blandina  and 
Ponticus,  and  of  the  valiant  Symphorianus,  will  be 
memories  of  thrilling  power  and  pathos  to  the  end  of 
time.  At  Rome  the  persecution  selected  some  of  its 
noblest  victims.  Justin,  the  Christian  philosopher,  find- 
ing in  the  Gospels  a  loftier  lore  than  in  the  teachings 
of  Zeno  or  Aristotle,  of  Pythagoras  or  Plato,  became 
the  foremost  of  the  goodly  phalanx  of  apologists  and 
defenders  of  the  faith,  and  sealed  his  testimony  with  his 
blood.  With  six  of  his  companions  he  was  brought  be- 
fore the  prefect  for  refusing  obedience  to  the  imperial 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


77 


decide.  "We  are  Christians,"  they  said,  "and  sacrifice 
not  to  idols."  They  were  forthwith  scourged  and  be- 
headed, and  devout  men  bore  them  to  their  burial, 
doubtless  in  these  very  Catacombs,  where  their  undis- 
covered remains  may  yet  lie.  In  this  reign  also  suffered 
the  seven  sons  of  St.  Felicitas  —  the  tomb  of  one  of  whom 
De  Kossi  believes  he  has  found  —  and  St.  Cecilia  and 
her  companions,  to  be  hereafter  mentioned.* 

♦  The  following  inscription,  referring  to  the  Antonine  period,  is 
given  by  Maitland,  (page  40,)  as  from  the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus. 
Although  it  seems  to  imply  the  actual  prevalence  of  persecution,  it 
is  evidently,  even  if  genuine,  of  later  date  than  the  time  alleged. 
The  presence  of  the  sacred  monogram,  as  well  as  the  somewhat  florid 
and  pleonastic  style,  indicate  an  origin  not  anterior  to  the  age  of 
Constantine,  when  it  became  the  fashion  with  outward  pharisaism 
to  adorn  the  sepulchres  of  the  martyrs,  although  the  truths  for 
which  they  died  were  often  treated  with  neglect : 


ALEXANDER    MORTVVS    NON    EST  SED  VIVIT  SVPER 

ASTRA     ET     CORPVS     IN      HOC      TVMVLO      QVIESCIT. 

VITAM    EXPLEVIT  SVB   ANTONINO    IMP  QVI   VBI    MVL 

TVM   BENEFITII  ANTEVENIRE   PRAEVIDERET  PRO  GRA 

^  l^  TIA  ODIVM  REDDIDIT.    GENVA   ENIM    FLEC 

N^     TENS  VERO    DEO    SACRIFICATVRVS  AD  SVP 

^/'l  \      PLICIA     DVCITVR.     O  TEMPORA     INFAVSTA 

QVIBVS  INTER   SACRA  ET  VOTA  NE  IN  CAV 

BRNIS   QVIDEM    SALVARI    POSSIMVS.      QVID    MISERIVS 

VITA  SED  QVID  MISERIVS  IN  MORTE  CVM  AB  AMICIS  ET 

PARENTIBVS  SEPELIRI   NEQVEANT  TANDEM  IN  COELO 

CORVSCANT.        PARVM    VIXIT    QVI    VIXIT  IN.  X.  TEM. 

"  In  Christ.  Alexander  is  not  dead,  but  lives  above  the 
stars,  and  his  body  rests  in  this  tomb.  He  ended  his  V  rt  ^^^' 
life  under  the  Emperor  Antonine,  who,  foreseeing  that  tyr Symbol 
great  benefit  would  result  from  his  services,  returned 
evil  for  good.  For  while  on  his  knees  and  about  to  sacrifice  to  the 
true  God,  he  was  led  away  to  execution.  O  sad  times  !  in  which, 
among  sacred  rites  and  prayers,  even  in  caverns  we  aio  not  safe. 
What  can  be  more  wretched  than  such  a  life?  and  what  than  such 
a  death?  when  they  cannot  be  buried  by  their  friends  and  relations— 


78 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


The  legend  of  the  Thundering  Legion,  supported  as 
it  is  by  the  medals  and  the  column  of  Antoninus,  com- 
memorates, indeed,  the  deliverance  of  the  Roman  army 
by  a  timely  shower;  but  the  Emperor  ascribed  that 
deliverance  not  to  the  prayers  of  the  Christians,  but  to 
his  own  appeal  to  the  heathen  gods,*  and  there  is 
no  evidence  that  he  ever  relaxed  the  severity  of  the 
persecution. 

The  ferocity  of  the  brutal  Commodus  f  was  tempered 
by  the  influence  of  his  concubine,  Marcia,  and  Chris- 
tianity spread  among  the  highest  ranks ;  but  persecution 

at  length  they  sparkle  in  heaven.  He  has  scarcely  lived  who  has 
lived  in  Christian  times." 

Maitland  renders  the  concluding  letters,  in.  X.  TEM,  by  "  In  Chris- 
tianis  tempjoribus."  The  furnace  seems  to  indicate  that  the  martyr 
suffered  death  by  fire,  or.  possibly,  by  immersion  in  boiling  oil  —  a 
mode  of  punishment  which  St.  John  b  said  to  have  undergone,  but 
without  receiving  any  harm. 

Another  still  more  apocryphal  inscription  is  given  by  Maitland, 
(page  65.)  It  is  probably  of  the  fifth  century.  The  Pudentiana  re- 
ferred to  is  said  to  have  spent  her  patrimony  in  relieving  the  poor 
and  burying  the  martyrs. 

HOC  ES  r  COEMETERIVM  PRISCILLAE 

IN  QVO  EXISTVNT  CORPORA  TRIVM  MILX.IVM  MARTYRVM 

MARi'^RIO  PER   ANTONINUM  IMPERATOREM 

AFFECTORVM  QVOS  S.  PVDESTIANA 

FECIT  IN  HOC   SVO  VENERABILI  TEMPLO  SRPELIRI. 

"  This  is  the  Cemetery  of  Priscilla,  in  which  are  the  bodies  of  three 
thousand  martyrs,  who  suffered  under  the  Emperor  Antonine,  whom 
St.  Pudentiana  caused  to  be  buried  in  this  her  own  place  of  worship" 
—  Aicher,  Hortus  Inscriptionum.  More  authentic  relics  of  this  reign 
are  the  large  tiles  with  which  part  of  the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus  is 
paved.  They  all  bear  the  words,  opvs  doliare  »x  praediis  domi- 
Ni  N  ET  FIGL  NOVis,  which,  according  to  Marini,  is  the  stamp  of 
the  imperial  manufactory  of  Marcus  Aurelius. 

*  "  Hanc  dextram  ad  te  Jupiter,  tendo,  quae  nullius  unquam  san- 
guinam  fuJit,"  is  the  form  of  prayer  given  by  Claudian.    Euseb.,  v,  5. 

t  A.  D.  180-193. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History, 


79 


did  not  entirely  cease.  Apollonius,  a  senator  of  the 
empire,  was  put  to  death  at  Rome,  and  we  read  of  numer- 
ous martyrdoms  elsewhere.  A  Christian  inscription 
commemorates  an  officer  of  Commodus,  and  Procurator 
of  the  Imperial  household,  who  was  **  received  to  God  " 

—  RECEPTVS  AD  DEVM  —  A.  D.  21 7.* 

On  the  death  of  this  emperor  the  persecution  raged 
with  such  violence  that,  according  to  Clemens  Alexan- 
drinus,  many  martyrs  were  burned,  crucified,  and  be- 
headed every  day.f  Non  licet  esse  vos  — "  It  is  not  lawful 
for  you  to  exist  " — was  the  stem  edict  of  extermination 
pronounced  against  the  saints. 

Christianity  had  little  favour  to  expect  from  a  military 
despot  like  Septimius  Severus,  whose  dying  counsel 
to  his  successor  expressed  the  principle  of  his  govern- 
ment —  "  Be  generous  to  the  soldiers  and  trample  on  all 
besides." 

The  revived  accusations  against  the  new  faith  called 
forth  the  bold  defence,  or  rather  'lefiance,  of  Tertullian, 
one  of  the  noblest  monuments  of  the  primitive  ages.  In 
this  reign  the  sanctity  of  the  Christian  cemeteries  was 
first  violated,  and  that  not  at  Rome  but  in  Africa,  where 
the  persecution  was  most  virulent.  "  The  mob  assails  us 
with  stones  and  flames  with  the  frenzy  of  bacchanals," 
says  Tertullian ;  "  They  do  not  even  spare  the  Christian 
dead,  but  tear  them  from  the  rest  of  the  tomb,  from 
the  asylum  of  death,  cut  them  in  pieces,  and  rend  them 
asunder."! 


*  See  chap,  ii,  book  iiL  f  Strom.,  lib.  m,  A.  D.  193. 

X  ApoL,  37.  Sicut  sub  Hilariano  prxside,  cum  d  reis  sepultura* 
rum  nostrarum  adclamassent,  area  non  sint. — .  Scap.^  c.  iii. 
A.  D,  203. 

No  more  pathetic  episode  is  contained  in  the  whole  range  of  the 
Martyrology   than  that  of  the  youthful  mother,  Perpetua,  who  sul- 


8o 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


M 


After  the  cessation  of  this  persecution  the  Church 
enjoyed  a  period  of  unwonted  rest.  Although  under 
the  ignoble  Heliogabalus  the  sensual  Asiatic  worship 
of  Baal  was  introduced  to  Rome,  and  human  sacrifice 
was  even  offered  to  this  Eastern  Moloch,*  yet  the  relig- 
ion of  peace  and  purity  shared  the  toleration  accorded 
to  the  most  obscene  and  cruel  rites.  The  just  and  ami- 
able Alexander  Severus  inaugurated  a  new  era  for 
Christianity,!  to  whic  i  he  was  favourably  disposed,  prob- 
abl/  through  the  influence  of  his  mother,  Mammaea, 
who  had  enjoyed  at  Antioch  the  instruction  of  Origen.J 
He  used  frequently  to  quote  with  approval  the  Golden 
Rule  of  Our  Lord,  and  caused  it  to  be  inscribed  on  his 
palace  walls,  and  also  ceded  to  the  Christians  a  piece 
of  public  ground  for  the  cection  of  a  church.  §  But 
Alexander  was  only  a  religious  eclectic,  honouring  what 
he  thought  best  in  the  current  systems  of  belief.  Of 
this  reign  is  the  epitaph  of  Urban,  bishop  of  Rome, 


fered  at  Carthage  uivle-  Severus.  Few  can  read  unmoved  the  acts 
of  her  martyrdom,  which  bear  the  stamp  of  authenticity  in  their  per- 
fectly natural  and  \inexaggerated  tone,  and  the  alisence  of  miracle. 
Young — she  was  cnly  twenty-two — beautiful,  of  noble  family,  and 
dearly  loved,  her  luiathen  father  entreated  her  to  pity  his  gi-ay  hairs, 
her  mother's  tears,  ner  helpless  babe.  But  her  faith  proved  triumphant 
over  even  the  yearnings  of  natural  affection  ;  and,  wan  and  faint  from 
recent  childbirth  pangs,  she  was  led,  with  Felicitas,  her  companion, 
into  the  crowded  amphitheatre,  and  exposed  to  the  cruel  horns'of  in- 
furiate beasts.  Amid  the  agonies  of  death,  more  conscious  of  her 
wounded  modesty  than  of  her  pai  i,  with  a  gesture  of  dignity  she  drew 
her  disheveled  robe  about  her  person.  She  seemed  rapt  in  ecstasy  till 
by  a  merciful  stroke  of  the  gladiator  she  was  released  from  her  suffer- 
ing, and  exchanged  the  dust  and  blood  of  the  arena,  and  the  shouts 
of  the  ribald  mob,  for  the  songs  of  the  redeemed,  and  the  beatific 
vision  of  the  Lord  she  loved. 

*  Coedit  et  humanas  hostias. — Lamprid.,  Heliogabaltts.     \  A.  D.  222. 

X  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccles,,  vi,  21. 

§  The  site,  according  to  tradition,  of  St.  Maria  in  Trastevere. 


Tlieir  Origin  and  Early  History. 


81 


which  has  been  found  in  the  so-called  "  Papal  Crypt," 
bearing  his  name  and  the  initial  letter  of  his  title — 
OTRBANOC   E.  .  .  . 

The  accession  of  the  Thracian  savage,  Maximin,  A.  D. 
235,  was  the  signal  for  a  fresh  outburst  of  persecution. 
To  have  been  favoured  by  Severus  was  sufficient  to  incur 
th.:  hate  of  his  murderer.  His  rage  was  especially  di- 
rected against  the  chief  pastors  of  the  flock  of  Christ. 
Pontianus,  the  Roman  bishop,  was  exiled  to  Sardinia, 
and  there  slain.  Antherus,  his  successor  in  this  danger- 
ous dignity,  for  his  zeal  in  preserving  the  records  of  the 
martyrs  himself  suffered  martyrdom  a  few  weeks  after 
his  accession,  and  was  laid  in  that  narrow  chamber  des- 
tined to  receive  so  many  of  Rome's  early  bishops,  where 
a  slab  bearing  his  name  and  title— ANTEPflC  •  Eni— 
has  been  found.  In  this  reign  also  suffered  the  cele- 
brated Hippolytus,  bishop  of  Pontus,  and  author  of  the 
*'  Philosophoumena." 

Under  Gordian  and  Philip  a  respite  was  again  gr  inted 
t.o  the  persecuted  church.  The  latter,  indeed,  is  claimed 
by  Eusebius  as  a  Christian ;  but  his  character  and  con- 
duct are  inconsistent  with  such  a  supposition. 

A  violent  reaction  took  place  on  the  accession  of 
Decius,  whose  name  became  an  object  of  execration  to 
mankind.*  He  resolved  to  entirely  crush  and  extirpate 
Christianity,  whose  bishops  and  churches  began  to  rival 
the  pontiffs  and  temples  of  the  gods  of  Rpme.  At  his 
instigation  a  persecution  of  unprecedented  virulence 
raged  like  an  epidemic  throughout  the  empire.  The 
imperial  edicts  enforced  conformity  to  the  pagan  ritaal 
under  penalty  of  the  most  horrible  tortures.     This  un- 

*  A.  D.  250-253.  Execrabile  animal  Decius,  qui  vexaret  ecclesiam. 
— Lactan.,  de  Mart.  Persec,  c.  3,  4.  He  would  rather  tolerate,  he 
said,  a  rival  for  his  throne,  than  a  bishop  in  Rome.     Cypr.,  Ep.  53. 

6 


# 


82 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


'm 


wonted  severity  produced  the  first  great  apostasy  of  the 
primitive  church  ;  and  many  of  the  less  stable  converts 
procured  exemption  from  martyrdom  by  sacrificing  to 
the  gods,  burning  incense  on  their  altars,  or  purchasing 
certificates  of  indulgence  from  the  heathen  magistrate.* 
"  Pale  and  trembling,  and  more  like  sacrificial  victims 
than  those  about  to  sacrifice,"  says  an  eye-witness,  "  some 
approached  the  heathen  shrines;  but  others,  firm  and 
blessed  pillars  of  the  Lord,  witnessed  a  good  confession 
unto  death."!  The  bishops  of  the  church,  who,  as  the 
leaders  of  Christ's  sacramental  host,  bore  gallantly  the 
battle's  brunt,  were  naturally  the  earliest  victims  of  the 
tyrant's  rage.  Accordingly,  at  the  very  outbreak  of  the 
Decian  slaughter,  the  venerable  Fabian,  head  of  the 
Roman  church,  perished  b/  decapitation ;  and  the 
Catacombs  were  glutted  with  a  host  of  unknown  mar- 
tyrs. In  the  very  chamber  in  the  Cemetery  of  Caliixtus 
to  which  his  mutilated  corpse  was  borne,  may  still  be 
seen  the  Bishop's  epitaph  —  <1>ABTAN0C '  EQl  —  with  the 
monogram  of  his  martyrdom,  the  conjoined  letters  MTP, 
added  probably  by  a  later  hand.      The  church  seemed 

*  Called  respectively  Sacrificati^  T/iuri/icati,  and  Libellatici,  of 
whom  the  first  were  esteemed  the  most  guilty.  The  indignant  rhetoric 
of  Cyprian  expresses  his  holy  horror  at  this  vile  apostasy  :  "  They 
made  haste  to  give  their  souls  the  mortal  wound.  .  .  ,  That  altar 
where  he  was  about  to  die  —  was  it  not  his  fun','ral  pile  ?  Should  he 
not  have  fled,  as  from  his  coffin  or  his  grave,  from  that  devil's  altar, 
when  he  saw  it  smoke  and  fume  with  stinking  smell?  .  .  .  Thou 
thyself  wast  the  sacrificial  victim.  Thou  didst  sacrifice  thy  salvation, 
and  burn  thy  faith  and  hope  in  these  abominable  fires" — Nonne  ara 
ilia,  quo  moriturus  accessit,  rogus  illi  fuit  ?  Nonne  diaboli  altare  quod 
foetore  taetro  fumare  et  redolere  conspexerat,  velut  funus  et  bustum 
vit£e  suae horrere  ac  fugere  debebat  ?  .  .  .  Ipseadaram  hostia,  victima 
ipse  venisti.  Immol.isti  illic  salutem  tuam,  spem  tuam,  ndem  tuam, 
funestisiilis  igniljus  concremasti. — De  Lapsis.,  p.  124. 

\  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  in  Euseb  ^  vi,  41. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


83 


paralyzed  with  lear,  and  for  sixteen  months  no  suc- 
cessor was  elected.  But,  undismayed  by  the  tragic  fate 
of  Fabian,  Cornelius,  allied  with  some  of  the  noblest 
families  of  Rome,  became  the  leader  of  the  forlorn  hope 
of  Christianity  against  all  the  power  of  the  empire. 
After  a  year's  episcopate  he  was  first  banished  and  then 
beheaded  under  Gallus,  a  worthy  successor  in  persecu- 
tion of  Decius.  Through  the  archaeological  researches 
of  De  Rossi  have  been  recovered;  first  his  epitaph  — 
CORNELIVS  •  MARTYR  •  EP  — and  then  his  tomb, 
with  a  Damasine  inscription,  in  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing crypts  of  the  Catacombs.  Lucius,  his  successor,  in 
six  months  shared  his  fate,  and  was  buried  in  the  cham- 
ber consecrated  by  the  dust  of  so  many  martyr-bishops, 
where  his  brief  epitaph — AOVKIC  —  is  still  legible. 

Valerian,*  who  revived  in  his  own  person  the  ancient 
office  of  Censor,  was  at  first  so  favourable  toward  the 
Christians  that  his  house,  says  Dionysius  of  Alexandria, 
was  filled  with  pious  persons,  and  was,  indeed,  a  congre- 
gation f  of  the  Lord.  This  favour  was  doubtless  the 
result  of  the  Censor's  approval  of  Christian  influence 
on  public  morals. t  In  the  latter  part  of  his  reign,  how- 
ever, the  Emperor  passed  under  the  dominion  of  the 
most  abject  superstition.  Through  the  influence  of 
Macrianus,  a  pagan  bigot  learned  in  the  dark  lore  of 
Egypt,  he  became  addicted  to  magic  arts,  and  is  said  to 
have  sought  the  auguries  of  the  empire  in  the  entrails 
of  human  victims.  §  The  most  relentless  decrees  were 
launched  against  the  Christian  church.  The  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons  were  forthwith  to  be  put  to  the 
sword ;  all  others  were  to  share  the  same  fate,  or  to  be 

*  A.  D  254-259.  t  'E/cKAjyffm,  Euseb.,  vii,  10. 

X  Milman,  Hist,  of  Christianity,  Am.  ed.,  Book  II.,  chap  vii. 
§  Euseb.,  Hist.  Ecclcs ,  vii,  la 


h^ 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


punished  by  exile  and  fetters.*  The  holding  of  assem- 
blies, or  even  entering  the  Christian  cemeteries,  was 
strictly  prohibited  A.  D.  257,!  By  this  unwonted  inva- 
sion of  the  immemorial  sanctity  of  the  sepulchre  the 
Christians  were  forbidden  even  these  last  refug  js  from 
persecution. 

Among  the  most  illustrious  victims  of  Valerian  whose 
bodies  lie  in  the  lowly  Catacombs,  but  whose  names  live 
for  evermore,  were  Stephen  I.  and  Sixtus  II.,  bishops 
of  the  persecuted  church,  and  a  number  of  distinguished 
ecclesiastics,  as  well  as  many  laymen  of  noble  rank.  J 

Stephen,  as  the  head  of  the  Christian  community,  was 
especially  obnoxious  to  heathen  rage.  According  to  the 
Acts  of  his  martyrdom  he  sought  concealment  in  these 
sepulchral  crypts,  §  where  he  was  secretly  visited  by  the 
faithful,  and  where  he  administered  the  sacraments. 
He  was  traced  by  the  Roman  soldiers  to  his  subter- 
ranean chapel,  but,  awed  by  the  mysterious  rites,  they 
allowed  him  to  conclude  the  service  in  which  he  was 
engiged.  He  was  tbr  beheaded,  with  several  of  his 
adhv^rents,  f  and  buried  In  the  Catacomb. 


*  Ut  episcopi  et  presbyteri  et  diacones  incontinenter  animadvertan- 
tur,  .  .  .  capite  quoque  raulctentur. — Cypr.,  ep.  72,  ad  Successum. 

f  Ovdofiuf  i^iarai  vfiiv  y  avvudov^  TTouWai  f)  eig  to,  KaTiovfieva 
KoiveTvpia  riauuai — Dionys.,  in  Euseb.,  vii,  II,  Jussum  est,  ut  nulla 
conciliabula  faciant,  neque  ccemeteria  ingrediantur. — Pontius,  Passio 
Cypriani. 

\  In  Africa,  Cyprian,  the  intrepid  bishop  of  Carthage,  after  a 
stormy  episcopate,  obtainetl  the  crown  of  martyrdom.  On  receiving 
the  sentence  condemning  him  to  death,  he  exclaimed,  "God  be 
thanked  ! ''  and  went  as  joyous  to  his  fate  as  to  a  marriage  feast, 
— Pontius,  Pa'sio  Cypr. 

§  "  Vitaro  -*jlitariam  agebat  in  cryptis."  Of  St.  Urban  it  is  similar- 
ly  •;aid,  **  Solebat  in  sacrorum  martyrum  monumenta." — Acts  of  CeciUa. 

I  Baronius ;  Ann.,  'om.  iii,  p.  76.  Among  his  companions  in 
dc;.ch  was  Hippolytus,  a  Roman  convert,  of  whom  a  beautiful  legend 


1*^' 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


^'. 


his 


be 
;ast. 

ilar- 

ilia. 

in 

rend 


Sixtus,  the  successor  of  Stephen,  within  a  }  . -r  id- 
ceived  the  martyr's  crown.  Like  another  Daniel  -tt'ng 
at  defiance  the  emperor's  decree,  he  was  leading  the 
devotions  of  the  persecuted  flock  in  the  Catacomb  of 
Prsetextatub,  probably  because  it  was  less  known  than  the 
public  cemetery  of  Callixtus,  when  he  was  apprehended 
by  the  fierce  soldiery,  who  had  tracked  his  footsteps 
thither.  He  was  hurried  away  to  summary  judgment, 
brought  back  to  the  place  of  his  offence,  and  there  be- 
headed, sprinkling  with  YM  blood  the  walls  of  the  chamber. 
With  him  were  also  executed  four  of  his  deacons,*  the 
monuments  of  two  of  whom,  Agapetus  and  Felicissimus, 
De  Rossi  discovered  in  the  very  Catacomb  in  which 
they  suffered.  Sixtus  himself  was  buried  in  the  "  Bishops* 
Tomb  "  in  the  Callixtan  Cemetery,  where  the  following 
inscription,  fragments  of  which  have  been  found  .:i  the 
dibris,  was  afterward  set  up  by  Damasus : 

TEMPORE  QVO   GLADIVS   SECVIT    PIA  VISCER/-    ..»ATkI.S 
HIC     POSITVS    RECTOR   COELESTIA   XVSSA   DOr    .  VM 
ADVENIVNT    SVKITO   RAPIVNT  QVI    FORTE   S;      '.WTEM 
MILITIBVS     MISSIS  POPVLI    TVNC    COI-LA   DEDt.RF, 
MOX     SIBI    COGNOVIT   SENIOR   QVIS     TOLLERE    VKLLFT 
PALMAM    SEQVE   SVVMQVE    CAPVP   PKIOR    OiSTVLll    rfiE 
IMPATIENS   FERITAS   POSSE  I    NE   LAEOERE  QV.uMQVAM 
OSTENDIT   CHRISTVS    REDUIT  QVI    PKAEMIA   VITAE 
PASTORIS   MERITVM    NVMERVM   GREGIS   IPSE   TVETVR 

is  recorded.  His  pagan  relatives,  entrusted  with  the  secret  of  his  re- 
treat, supplied  his  wants  by  means  of  their  children,  a  boy  and  girl 
of  ten  and  thirteen  years.  He  one  day  detained  the  children  in  the 
hope  that  their  parents  would  seek  them,  and  th\'.s  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  religious  instruction  from  the  good  bishop.  Iiis  phm 
succeeded,  and  eventually  they  with  their  children  were  baptized  and 
suffered  ".nartyrdoin  together  !  Baron.,  Ann.,  iii,  69.  Even  though 
unauthentic,  this  story  is  r,  type,  doubtless,  of  many  incidents  wlii  :h 
occurred  in  the  strange  social  relations  of  the  church  in  the  Catacombs. 
*  Xistum  in  cimiterio  animadversum  sciatis  .  .  .  et  cum  eo  diac- 
onos   quatuor. — Cypr.,  Epis ,  Ixxx,  ad  Successful. 


86 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


At  the  time  when  the  sword  pierced  the  tender  heart  of  the 
Mother  [church,]  I,  the  ruler  buried  here,  was  teaching  the  laws 
of  heaven.  Suddenly  came  [the  enemy,]  who  seized  me  sitting  as  I 
was.  Then  the  p)eople  presented  their  necks  to  the  soldiers  sent 
against  me.  Soon  the  old  man  saw  who  sought  to  bear  away  the 
palm,  and  was  the  first  to  offer  himself  and  his  own  head,  that  impa- 
tient rage  might  injure  no  one  else.  Christ  who  bestows  the  rewards 
of  life,  manifests  the  merit  of  the  pastor :  he  himself  defends  the 
flock.* 

Thus  seven  bishops  of  the  church  at  Rome  fell  in 
succession  by  the  hand  of  the  headsman,  five  of  them  in 
the  space  of  eight  years — heroic  athletes  of  Christ  who, 
at  the  very  seat  of  paganism,  as  in  a  mighty  theatre  of 
God,  bore  the  brunt  of  persecution,  and,  conquering 
even  in  death,  received  the  martyr's  crown  and  palm. 

The  accession  of  Gallienusf  restored  peace  to  the 
church.  His  decree  granting  complete  religious  tolera- 
tion, the  restoration  oi  confiscated  ecclesiastical  prop- 
erty, and  permission  to  "  recover  what  they  called  their 
cemeteries,"  J  Avon  the  gratitude  of  his  Christian  subjects. 
His  character,  however,  by  no  means  justified  the  epithet 
of  **  hi'ly  and  pious  emperor"  bestowed  by  Dionysius  of 
Alexandria. §  This  was  the  first  formal  recognition  of 
Christianity  as  a  religio  licita^  or  legalized  faith,  and  for 
forty  years  the  church  enjoyed  comparative  repose ;  at 

*  Aiiother  martyr  whose  Acts,  although  disfigured  with  some  gro- 
tesqae  and  exaggerated  circumstances,  contain  elements  of  great 
beauty,  wa-^>  Lawrence,  a  deacon  of  the  bishop  Sixtus.  Esteeming  it 
no  s.tciiie:,;e,  but  rather  the  highest  consecration  of  the  property  of 
the  church,  he  distributed  it  in  alms  among  the  suffering  Christians. 
Beine  commanded  to  surrender  to  the  emperor  the  confiscated 
ecclcslasticrl  treasuie,  he  presented  to  the  commissioner  a  number 
of  aged  anc  impotent  poor,  saying,  **  These  are  the  treasures  of  the 
church."  After  incredible  tortures,  which  form  the  subject  of  many 
a  picture  of  Roman  Citholic  art,  he  is  said  to  have  been  roasted  to 
deiith  over  a  slow  fire.  Ambros.,  Officiti.y  i,  41. 

f  A.  D.  2j9.         %  Euseb.,  Hist.  Ecclcs.,  viii.  13.         §  lb.,  viii,  2> 


»l 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


87 


least  such  repose  as  was  possible  while  twenty  rival 
emperors — fantastic  things  "  that  likeness  of  a  kingly 
crown  had  on  " — struggled  for  the  supremacy,  and  har- 
ried the  land  with  their  mutual  devastations.  During 
this  period,  P'elix,  the  bishop  of  the  Roman  church, 
who,  according  to  the  Liber  Pontijicalis,  was  exceedingly 
diligent  in  honouring  the  martyrs  of  the  Catacombs,  be- 
came himself  a  conscript  of  that  noble  army,  and  was 
beheaded,  in  accordance  with  an  imperial  decree,  as  was 
also  Agapetus,  a  Christian  of  noble  rank. 

The  mild  and  amiable  Tacitus  *  ruled  over  a  turbulent 
people  only  six  months.  His  brother  Florian  retained 
the  purple  only  half  that  time.  Probus,  "  the  just," 
whose  name,  says  his  epitaph,  expressed  his  character,! 
fell  by  the  hands  of  his  own  tumultuous  legionaries. 
The  sensual  and  abominable  Carinus  displayed  the  ex- 
travagancies of  Heliogabalus,  aggravated  by  the  cruelty 
of  Domitian.  In  his  reign  died  Eutychianus,  whose 
epitaph  and  title— EYTYXIANOC  EIIIC— have  been 
found  in  the  "  Papal  Crypt "  of  Callixtus.  | 

Christianity  was  destined  to  undergo  a  final  ordeal 

*  A.  D.  275. 

t  Probus  et  vere   probus  situs  est.     Obiit  A.  D.  283. 

X  Gregory  of  Tours,  writing  in  the  sixth  century,  asserts  that  under 
Numerian,  the  brother  and  contemporary  of  Carinus,  Chrysanthus 
and  Daria  suffered  martyrdom  xu  Catacomb  on  the  Via  Salaria. 
A  number  of  the  faithful  being  observed  to  visit  their  tombs,  the 
emperor  ordered  the  entrance  to  be  built  up  and  covered  with  a  heap 
of  sand  and  stones,  that  they  might  be  buried  alive  in  common  mar- 
tyrdom. When  their  remains  were  discovered  by  Damasus,  in  the 
fourth  century,  he  refrained  from  removing  them,  and  simply  made 
an  opening  from  an  adjacent  gallery,  that  pilgrims  to  the  early  shrines 
of  the  faith  might  behold,  without  disturbing  it,  this  "Christian 
Pompeii,"  Gregory  asserts  that  these  interesting  relics  were  still  to 
be  seen  in  his  day — the  skeletons  of  men,  women,  and  children  lying 
on  the  floor,  and  even  the  silver  vessels  {urcei  argentei )  which  they 
used. 


'*^'»l 


88 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


before  it  should  ascend  the  throne  of  the  Caesars.  The 
church  must  pass  once  more  through  the  purifying 
flames  of  persecution  before  it  was  fit  to  be  entrusted 
with  the  reins  of  empire.  The  long  peace  and  temporal 
prosperity  had  fostered  pride  and  luxury,  and  relaxed 
the  morals  of  the  Christian  community.  Schisms  and 
feuds  destroyed  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  the 
bishops  had  begun  to  aspire  to  temporal  power,  and  to 
assert  an  unwarranted  authority.  "  Prelates  inveighed 
against  prelates,"  says  Eusebius,  "  and  people  rose  against 
people,  assailing  each  other  with  words  as  with  darts  and 
spears."*  The  blasts  of  adversity  were  necessary  to 
winnow  the  spurious  and  false  away,  and  to  leave  the 
tried  and  true  behind.  From  the  fatal  slumber  of  re- 
ligious apathy  into  which  the  church  was  falli-ig  it  was 
to  be  rudely  awakened.  Its  former  afflictions  sank  into 
insignificance  compared  with  this  great  tribulation,  which 
was  pre-eminently  called  The  Persecution  by  the  his- 
torian of  the  times. f 

The  close  of  the  third  century  witnessed  the  strange 
spectacle  of  the  government  of  the  Roman  world  by  a 
group  of  men  who  had  climbed  to  the  giddy  height  of 
power  from  the  lowest  stations  in  life.  Diocletian, 
originally  a  slave,  or  at  least  the  son  of  a  slave,  reduced 
the  haughty  aristocracy  of  Rome  to  a  condition  of 
oriental  servility.  Maximian,  a  Paiinonian  peasant,  be- 
trayed the  savageness  of  his  nature  by  his  bloodthirsty 
cruelty.  Galerius,  an  Illyrian  herdsman,  but  exhib- 
ited more  conspicuously  upon  the  throne  of  ep^pire  the 
native  barbarity  of  his  character.  Constantjus  wfis  of 
nobler  birth  than  any  of  his  colleagues,  and  he  alon§ 
adorned  his  lofty  station  by  dignity,  justice,  and  clem? 
ency.     The  world  groaned  under  the  oppression  of  jtg 


*  Euseb.,  Hist,  Eccles.,  viii,  I. 


t  Bid, 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


89 


ity 


cruel  masters.  So  exhausting  were  their  exactions  that 
none  remained  to  tax,  says  Lactantius,*  but  the  beggars. 
The  early  years  of  the  reign  of  Diocletian  were  char- 
acterized for  the  most  part  by  principles  of  religious  tol- 
eration. Indeed,  his  wife  and  daughter,  the  empresses 
Prisca  and  Valeria,  favoured,  if  they  did  not  adopt, 
the  Christian  faith,  and  some  of  the  first  officers  of  the 
imperial  household  belonged  to  the  now  powerful  sect.f 
But  even  duri^"  g  this  period  the  Christians  were  not  free 
from  danger.  Caius,  the  Roman  bishop,  is  said  to  have 
lived  for  eight  years  in  the  Catacombs  on  account  of 
the  persecution,  and  at  last  underwent  martyrdom  in 
the  year  A.  D.  296.  J  Marcus  and  Marcelianus,  two 
Roman  Christians  of  noble  rank,  who  have  given  their 
name  to  one  of  the  Catacombs,  suffered  about  this  time. 
Others,  especially  in  the  army,  where  the  ancient  faith 
had  firmest  hold,  and  where,  indeed,  Eusebius  says,  the 
persecution  began,  §  endured  martyrdom  as  the  valiant 
soldiers  of  Christ.  The  storm,  of  which  these  events 
were  the  precursors,  at  length  burst  with  fury  on  the 
Christians  in  the  year  303.  A  serieij  of  cruel  edicts, 
written,  says  Eusebius,  with  a  dagger's  point,  ||  were 
fulminated  for  the  extirpation  of  the  Christian  name.  1[ 

♦  De  Mori.  Persec,  c.  xxiii.  t  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccles.,  viii,  i. 

X  Caius  .  .  .  fugiens  persecutionem  Diocletiani  in  cryptis  habitando, 
martyrio  coronatur. — Lib,  Pontif.;  cf.  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccles.^  vii,  32. 

§  'E/c  Tuv  tv  arpartiaig  tidcA^wv  KaTap^oftevov  tov  fituyfiuv. — ///j/. 
EccUs.^  viii,  i. 

II  i^ita  Coiist,^  ii,  54. 

\  The  following  inscription,  found  in  Spain,  and  given  by  Gruter, 
seems  designed  as  the  funeral  monument  of  dead  and  buried  Chris- 
tianity. But  though  apparently  destroyed,  like  its  divine  Author,  in- 
stinct with  immortality  it  rose  triumphant  over  all  its  foes. 

DIOCLETIAN  •  CAES  •  AUG  •  GALERIO  •  IN  ORIENTR  •  ADOPT-  SVPER 
STITIONE  CHRIST  'VBIQ  •  DELETA  ET  CVLTV  DEOR  •  TROPAGATO  • 

*'To  Diocletian,  Ctesar  Augustus,  having  adopted  Galerius  in  the 


90 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


i 


I 


I 


They  w^re  framed  with  malignant  ingenuity,  so  as  to 
leave  no  chance  of  escape  save  in  open  apostasy.  All 
ecclesiastical  property  was  confiscated.  The  churches 
were  razed  to  the  ground,  and  the  sacred  scriptures  burned 
with  fire.*  All  assemblies  for  worship  were  prohi^^itcd 
on  pain  of  death.  The  clergy  of  every  order  were  zeal- 
ously sought  out,  and  thrust  into  dungeons  designed 
for  the  worst  of  felons,  f  The  whole  Christian  com- 
munity was  outlawed,  degraded  from  every  secular  office, 
deprived  of  the  rights  of  citizenship,  and  exposed  to  the 
]ninishment  of  the  vilest  slaves.  With  intensifying  vio- 
lence edict  followed  edict,  like  successive  strokes  of 
thunder  in  a  raging  storm.  A  universal  and  relentless 
proscription  of  the  Christian  name  took  place.  The 
truculent  monster  Calerius,  of  whom  his  Christian  sub- 
jects said,  that  he  never  supped  without  human  blood,  J 
proposed  that  all  who  refused  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods 
should  be  burned  alive ;  and  the  fiendish  ingenuity  of 
the  persecutors  was  exhausted  in  devising  fresh  tortures 
for  their  victims. 

In  Italy,  and  especially  at  Rome,  the  work  of  de- 
struction was  eagerly  carried  on  by  Maximian,  an 
implacable  enemy  of  the  Christians ;  and  after  his  death 
by  the  abominable  voluptuary  Maxentius,  in  whom  the 
twin  passions  of  cruelty  and  lust  struggled  for  the  mas- 
East,  the  Christian  superstition  being  evtry-where  destroyed,  and  the 
worship  of  the  gods  extended." 

*  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eceles.,  viii,  2.  The  effects  of  the  persecution  were 
felt  even  in  Britain,  ((iildas,  de  Excid.  Britau.,  in  Bingham,  viii^  i.) 
Alban  was  the  first  British  martyr  at  a  somewhat  earlier  date. 

t  "  The  dungeons  destined  for  murderers,"  says  Eusebius,  "  were 
filled  with  bishops,  presbyters,  deacons,  readers,  and  exorcists,  so  that 
there  was  no  room  left  for  those  condemned  for  crime." — Hist. 
Eccles. 

X  Nee  unquam  sine  cruore  humano  coenabat. — Lactan.,  de  Mort. 
Persec. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History, 


9' 


the 


tery.  These  monsters  of  ini  luity  revelled  in  a  carnival 
of  blood,  and  glutted  the  Catacombs  with  victims,  some 
of  the  most  illustrious  of  whom  will  shortly  be  men- 
tioned. On  the  retirement  of  Diocletian,  satiated  with 
slaughter  and  weary  with  the  cares  of  state,  to  his  re- 
treat at  Salonica,  Galerius  continued  the  per^'-cution 
with  increased  zeal.  It  was  the  expiring  effort  of  pagan- 
ism, the  death  throes  of  its  mortal  agon".  But  the 
Christian  religion,  like  the  trodden  grass  th.it  ranker 
grows,  flourished  still  in  spite  of  the  oppressior  it  en- 
dured. Like  the  rosemary  and  thyme,  which  the  more 
they  are  bruised  give  out  the  richer  perfume,  it  breathed 
forth  the  odours  of  sanctity  which  are  fragrant  in  the 
world  to-day.  Though  the  frail  and  the  fickle  fell  off  in 
the  blast  of  adversity,  the  staunch  and  true  remained ; 
and  from  the  martyr's  blood,  more  prolific  than  the 
fabled  dragon's  teeth,  a  new  host  of  Christian  heroes 
rose,  contending  for  the  martyr's  starry  and  unwither- 
ing  crown. 

But  the  period  of  deliverance  was  at  hand.  Smitten 
by  the  power  of  that  God  whose  titles  and  attributes  he 
had  usurped,  the  wretched  Galerius,  amid  the  agonies  of 
a  loathsome  disease,  implored  the  intercessions  of  the 
Christians  whom  he  had  so  ruthlessly  proscribed.  With 
sublimest  magnanimity  the  church  exhibited  the  nobil- 
ity of  a  Gospel  revenge,  and  obeyed  the  injunction  of 
its  divine  Master  to  pray  for  those  who  persecuted  and 
despitefully  used  it.  From  the  dying  couch  of  the  re- 
morseful monarch  came  an  abject  apology  for  his  cruel 
deeds;  and,  in  late  atonement  for  his  crime,  a  decree 
of  amplest  recognition  of  Christianity,  and  restoration 
of  the  right  to  worship  God.  Like  the  trump  of  jubilee, 
the  edict  of  deliverance  pealed  through  the  land.  It 
])enetrated   the  gloomy  dungeon,   the   darksome  mine, 


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92 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


\ 


the  catacomb's  dim  labyrinth ;  and  from  their  sombre 
depths  vast  processions  of  the  "  noble  wrestlers  of  re- 
ligion"* thronged  to  the  long  forsaken  churches  with 
grateful  songs  of  praise  to  God. 

But  this  treacherous  calm  was  soon  to  be  again  broken. 
The  superstitious  tyrant  Maximin  endeavoured  to  revive 
the  dying  paganism,  and  to  renew  the  persecution.  He 
paid  Christianity  the  high  compliment  of  attempting  a 
complete  organization  of  the  heathen  priesthood  on  the 
model  of  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy,  and  restored  the 
ancient  worship  with  unwonted  pomp.  He  prohibited 
the  assemblies  in  the  cemeteries,  and  reiterated  the 
edict  of  extermination  against  the  Christians.!  But  the 
loathsome  death  of  this  brutal  voluptuary  soon  delivered 
the  church  from  the  most  implacable  of  its  foes.  From 
the  distant  island  of  Britain — that  ultimate  far  Thule 
of  the  empire— had  arrived  the  Caesar  who  should  en- 
throne the  new  faith  on  the  seat  of  its  persecutors,  and 
establish  it  as  the  religion  of  the  state,  |  an  event 
more  perilous  to  its  purity  and  spiritual  power  th?n 
the  direst  oppression  it  had  ever  endured.  Constan- 
tino having  overcome  the  enemies  of  Christianity, 
v/ho  were  also  his  own,  became  its  protector,  more,  it  is 
easy  to  believe,  either  from  conviction  of  its  truth  or 
from  policy  than  on  account  of  the  alleged  miraculous 
vision  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  the  presage  of  a  bloody 

♦  Date  of  Edict,  April  30,  A.  D.  311,     Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccies.^xx,  i. 

t  Eusebius  gives  the  edict,  taken  from  a  brazen  tablet  at  Tyre,  in 
which  the  Emperor  speaks  of  **  the  votaries  of  an  execrable  vanity, 
like  a  funeral  pile  long  disregarded  and  smothered,  again  rising  in 
mighty  flames  and  rekindling  the  extinguished  brands."  Hist.  EccUs.^ 
ix,  9. 

\  The  courtly  panegyrist  of  Constantine  gratefully  speaks  of  him 
as  a  "  tight  and  deliverer  arising  in  the  dense  and  impenetrable  dark* 
ness  of  a  gloomy  night."  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccles.^  x,  8. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


93 


victory.*  He  issued  at  Milan,  A.  D.  313,  that  decree 
of  full  and  unlimited  toleration  f  which  became  thence- 
forth the  charter  of  the  church's  liberties.  J 

*  Eusebius  compares  the  victory  of  the  Milvian  Bridge  to  that  of 
Moses  and  the  Israelites  over  Pharaoh  and  his  hosts.  Hist.  EccUs.  ix,  9. 

f  Daremus  et  Christianis  et  omnibus  liberam  potestatem  sequen* 
di  religionem  quam  quisque  voluisset — ••  We  give  to  the  Christian!;, 
and  to  all,  the  free  choice  to  follow  whatever  mode  of  worship  they 
may  wish." — Decree  of  Milan,  preserved  in  Lactantius,  de  Mort.  Persec.^ 
and  in  Euseb.,  Hist.  F.rcles.^,  x,  5. 

X  In  the  violent  deaths  or  loathsome  diseases  of  many  of  their  per- 
secutors the  Christians  recognized  the  retributive  judgments  of  the 
Almighty,  which  were  considered  so  remarkable  as  to  occasion  the 
special  treatise  de  Mortibus  Persecutorum^  attributed  to  the  pen  of 
Lactantius.  Nero  died  ignominiously  by  his  own  hand.  Domitian 
was  assassinated.  During  the  reign  of  Aurelius  war,  famine,  and 
pestilence  wasted  the  land.  Decius  perished  miserably  in  a  marsh, 
and  his  body  became  ihe  prey  of  the  prowling  jackal  and  unclean 
buz.'.ard.  Valerian,  captured  by  the  Persians,  after  having  served  as 
a  footstool  to  his  haughty  foe,  is  said  to  have  been  flayed  alive  and 
his  skin  stuffed  with  straw.  Aurelian  was  slain  by  the  hand  of  a 
trusted  servant,  and  Carinas  by  the  dagger  of  a  husband  whom  he 
had  irreparably  wronged.  Diocletian,  having  languished  for  years 
the  prey  of  painful  maladies,  which  even  affected  his  reason,  it  is 
said  committed  suicide.  Galerius,  like  those  rivals  in  bloodshed  and 
persecution,  Herod  and  Philip  II.,  became  an  object  of  loathing  and 
abhorrence,  being  "eaten  of  worms"  while  yet  alive.  Maximian 
fell  by  the  hand  of  the  public  executioner ;  and  Maxentius,  in  the 
hour  of  defeat,  was  smothered  in  the  ooze  of  the  Tiber  beneath  the 
walls  of  his  capital.  Severus  opened  his  own  veins  and  bled  to  death. 
The  first  Maximin  was  murdered  ;  the  second,  a  fugitive  and  an  exile, 
committed  suicide  by  poison,  and,  according  to  Eusebius,  was  so  con- 
sumed by  internal  torments  that  "his  IxKly  became  the  tomb  of  his 
soul."  Licinius,  the  last  of  the  persecutors,  was  slain  by  his  ferocious 
soldiery,  and  his  name,  by  a  decree  of  the  Senate,  forever  brapded 
with  infamy.  Thus  with  indignities  and  tortures,  often  surpassing 
those  they  inflicted  on  their  Christian  subjects,  perished  the  enemies 
of  the  church  of  God,  as  if  pursued  by  a  divine  retribution  no  less 
inexorable  than  the  avenging  Nemesis  of  the  pagan  mythology.  See 
Lactantius,  de  Mort.  Persec.^ passim  ;  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccles.^  viii,  17 ;  ix, 
9,  10 ;  Tertul,  Ad.  Scap.,  c.  3. 


94 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


The  suflerings  of  the  more  illustrious  victims  of  perse- 
cution are  alone  recorded  in  history,  which  is  silent  con- 
cerning the  great  army  of  unknown  martyrs,  whose  names 
are  recorded  only  in  the  Book  of  Life.  The  bishops  of 
the  church  were  ever  the  first  to  feel  the  tyrants'  rage. 
The  episcopal  chair  was  often  but  the  stepping-stone  to 
the  scaffold.  Yet  faithful  shepherds  were  not  wanting 
to  lead  the  flock  of  Christ,  and  to  testify  their  devotion 
to  their  trust  by  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives.  We  have 
seen  how  Caius  suffered  even  before  the  final  outbreak 
of  persecution.  Marcellinus,  his  successor,  incurred 
the  resentment  of  the  tyrant  Maxentius,  was  degraded 
to  the  office  of  groom  of  the  public  stables,  where  the 
horses  of  the  circus  were  kept,  and  soon  sank  beneath 
the  weight  of  his  miseries  and  those  of  the  church.* 
Marcellus,  sometimes  confounded  with  Marcellinus,  paid 
the  penalty  of  exile  for  his  firmness  in  maintaining  the 
ecclesiastical  discipline  against  those  who  apostatized 
from  the  faith  in  those  times  of  Aery  trial.  This  event 
is  recorded  in  the  Damasine  inscription : 


VRRJDICVS    RECTOR    LAPSOS  QVIA  CRIMINA  FLERB 
PRAEUIXIT  MISERIS  FVIT  OMNIBVS  HOSTIS  AMARVS 
HINC  FVROR  HINC  ODIVM  SEQVITVR  DISCORDIA  LITES 
SEDITIO  CAEDES  SOLVVNTVR  FOEDERA  PACIS 
CRIMEN   OB   ALTEKIVS   CHRISTVM    QVI   IN  PACE  NEGAVIT 
FINIBVS  EXPVLSVS  PATRIAE  EST  FERITATE  TYRANNI 
HAEC  BREVITER  UAMASVS  VOLVIT  COMPERTA  REFERRE 
MARCELLI  VT  POPVLVS  MERITVM  COGNOSCERE  POSSET,  f 


♦  The  church  of  St.  Marcello,  in  the  Corso,  commemorates  the 
scene  of  his  indignities.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  each  church 
or  titulus  within  the  city  had  its  own  cemetery  without  the  walls 
over  which  the  presbyter  of  the  title  had  jurisrliction.  Marcellinus, 
as  bishop,  had  charge  of  the  ecclesiastical  Cemetery  of  Callixtus,  as 
appears  from  a  contemporary  inscription. 

f  Gruter,  Fnscrip.^  p.  1172,  No.  3. 


Tfieir  Origin  and  Early  History, 


9S 


The  truth-speaking  ruler,  because  he  preached  that  the  lapsed 
should  weep  for  their  crimes,  was  bitterly  hated  by  all  those  unhappy 
ones.  Hence  fury,  hence  hatred  followed,  discord,  contentions,  sedi- 
tion, and  slaughter;  and  the  bonds  of  peace  were  ruptured.  For  the 
crime  of  another,  who  in  a  time  of  peace  had  denied  Christ,  he  was 
expelled  the  shores  of  his  country  by  the  cruelty  of  the  tyrant.  These 
things  Damasus  having  learned,  was  desirous  to  relate  briefly,  th:it 
the  people  might  recognize  the  merit  of  Marcellus. 

Neither  Marcellus  nor  Marcellinus  was  buried  in  the 
Catacomb  of  Callixtus — which,  as  Diocletian  had  con- 
fiscated all  the  public  cemeteries,  was  inaccessible  to 
the  Christians  —  but  in  the  private  crypt  of  the  Christian 
matron  Priscilla,  on  the  Salarian  Way.  Eusebius,  the 
successor  of  Marcellus,  was  also  banished  on  account 
of  the  controversy  concerning  the  "  lapsed."  New  light 
has  recently  been  thrown  on  this  subject  by  De  Rossi's 
discovery,  in  the  tomb  of  the  bishop,  of  the  following 
Damasine  inscription  in  a  fragmentary  condition  : 

HERACLIVS  VETVIT  LABSOS  \sic\  PECCATA  DULERB 
EVSEBIVS  MISEROS  DOCVIT  SVA  CRIMINA  FLERE 
ScINDITVR  [in]  partes  POPVLOJ  (U.ISCENTE  FVRORB 
SEDITIO  CAEUES  BELLVM  DISCUKDIA  I.ITES 
EXTEMPLX)  PARITER  PVLSI    FERITATE  TYRANNI 
INTEGRA  CVM   RECTOR    SERVARET   FOEUERA    PACIS 
PERTVLIT  EXILIVM  DOMINO  SVB  IVDICE  LAETVS 
LITORE  TRIN  ACRIOMVNDVM  VITAMQ  •  RELIQUIT. 

Heraclius  forbaiie  the  lapsed  to  grieve  for  their  sins.  Eussbius 
taught  those  unhappy  ones  to  weep  for  their  crimes.  The  people 
were  rent  in  parties  and  with  increasing  fury  beg.-xn  sedition,  slaughter, 
fighting,  discord,  and  strife.  Straightway  i>oth  were  l>anished  by  the 
cruelty  of  the  tyrant,  although  the  ruler  was  preserving  the  bonds  of 
peace  inviolate.  He  bore  his  exile  wirh  joy,  looking  to  the  Lord  as 
his  Judge,  and  on  the  Trinacrian  shore  gave  up  the  world  and  his  life. 

The  Heraclius  mentioned  in  the  inscription  is  proba- 
bly the  heretical  leader  referred  to  in  the  epitaph  of 
Marcellus,  previously  given.  No  reference  to  this  event 
occurs  in  any  of    the    ecclesiastical   writers,  and   this 


ti 


96  Tke  Catacombs  of  Rome. 

inscription,  says  Dr.  Northcote,  is  the  recovery  of  a  lost 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  church.*  The  remains  of 
Eusebius  were  brought  from  Sicily,  the  place  of  his 
exile,  by  his  successor,  Melchiades,  and  interred  in  the 
Catacomb  of  Callixtus,  but  not  with  the  other  bishops, 
the  approaches  to  whose  tomb  were  blocked  up  with 
earth,  probably  to  prevent  its  violation  by  the  enemies 
of  the  faith.  Melchiades,  with  whom  the  long  suc- 
cession of  Rome's  martyr  bishops  comes  to  a  close,  was 
the  last  of  his  order  who  was  buried  in  the  Catacombs, 
and  De  Rossi  conjectures  that  he  has  discovered  in  the 
Cemetery  of  Callixtus  his  tomb,  and  the  very  sarcopha- 
gus in  which  he  lay.f 

One  of  the  most  illustrious  of  the  lay  martyrs  of  the 
Diocletian  persecution  was  the  gallant  young  soldier 
Sebastian,  who  has  given  his  name  to  one  of  the  most 
ancient  basilicas  of  Rome  and  to  the  adjacent  Cata- 
comb, and  Adauctus,  a  treasurer  of  the  imperial  palace. 
In  the  Damasine  epitaph  of  the  latter  occur  the  fine  lines : 

INTEMERATA   FIDE  CONTEMPTO  PRINCIPE  MVNDI 
CONrESSVS  XRM  CAELESTIA  REGNA  PETISTI.  % 

With  unfaltering  faith,  despising  the  lord  of  the  world,  having 
confessed  Christ,  thou  didst  seek  the  celestial  realms. 

*  Rom.  Sott.^  p.  172. 

+  There  is  a  pleasing  tradition  recorded  of  Sylvester,  the  successor 
uf  Nf  elchiades,  io  the  effect  that,  having  fled,  on  account  of  the  per- 
secution, to  the  caverns  of  Mount  Soracte,  the  Emperor  Constantine 
sent  for  him  to  receive  religious  instruction.  Seeing  the  soldiers  ap- 
proach, as  he  thought  to  lead  him  to  martyrdom,  Sylvester  exclaimed, 
••Now  is  the  accepted  time,  now  is  the  day  of  salvation,"  but  was 
in  a  few  days  installed  as  bishop  of  Rome  in  the  imperial  palace  of 
the  Lateran.  Soracte,  once  sacred  to  Apollo  and  the  Muses,  but  now 
to  Christ  and  the  saints,  is  known,  in  commemoration  of  this  event, 
as  Monte  San  Silvestro. 

X  Gruter,  p.  11 71,  No.  8. 


i  a^ 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History, 


97 


Several  of  the  Christian  cemeteries  receive  their  des- 
ignation from  the  martyrs  of  this  period,  among  others 
those  of  Saints  Agnes,  Peter,  and  Marcellinus,  of  Pan- 
cratius,  Generosa,  Zeno,  Soteris,  and  Quaitro  Incoronaii^ 
notice  of  whom  will  be  more  appropriate  in  the  accounts 
of  their  respective  sepulchres.  History  has  also  pre- 
served the  names  of  raany  other  valiant  coniessors,  who 
proved  faithful  even  unto  death  amid  the  fiery  trials 
and  cruel  mockings  and  scourgings  to  which  they  were 
exposed.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  Cosmo  and 
Damian,  two  holy  brothers  of  Cilicia,  who  practised  in 
Rome  with  great  skill  the  healing  art,  from  pure  love  to 
God  and  to  their  fellow-men,  refusing  to  receive  aught 
for  their  services;*  Simplicius  and  Faustinus,  who  were 
drowned  in  the  Tiber  by  the  tyrant's  orders,  and  their 
martyred  sister  Beatrice,  whose  tombs  %nd  epitaphs  De 
Rossi  believes  he  has  recovered.!  Most  of  the  legends, 
however,  of  what  may  be  called  the  Romish  mythology 
are  disfigured  by  absurd  and  superstitious  additions; 
and  the  martyrs  themselves  have  become  the  objects  of 
idolatrous  veneration  far  alien  from  the  spirit  of  that 
primitive  Christianity  for  which  they  died.J 

*  Their  names  and  piety  are  commeiAorated  by  two  churches  in 
Rome.  Eusebius  also  records  with  Approbation  the  story  of  the 
Christian  matron  Sophronia,  wife  of  thft  Prefect  of  Rome,  who  com« 
mitted  suicide  to  escape  the  poliutlAg  embraces  of  the  tyrant  Max* 
entius.     Hist,  EccUs.y  viii,  14. 

\  BulUttinOy  January,  1S69. 

X  The  following  satirical  remarks  of  De  Brosses,  a  Romanist  writer, 
concerning  the  supply  of  relics  from  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Agnes,  will 
indicate  how  unauthentic  are  these  objects  of  veneration :  "  Vous 
pourriez  voir  ici  la  capilale  des  Catacombes  de  toute  la  chretiente. 
Les  martyrs,  les  confesseurs,  et  les  vierges,  y  fourmillent  de  tous 
c6tes.  Quand  on  se  fait  besoin  de  quelques  reliques  en  pays  Stranger, 
le  Papc  n'a  qu'i  descendre  ici  et  crier.  Qui  de  vous  autres  vent  alter 
Ure  saint  en  Pologne  ?  Alors  s'il  se  trouve  quelque  mort  de  bonne 
volonte  il  se  leve  et  s'en  va." 

7 


1 


98 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


The  following  inscriptions  from  the  Catacombs  are 
the  only  records  of  the  victims  of  persecution  whose 
names  they  bear. 


^ 


E-P-i' 


Rir/ar 


FIff.  21.— Laxums,  the  martyr  of  Ohrist,  rests  here.   He  saf- 
fored  under  Diooletiiui.   For  his  successors  also. 


PRIMITIVS  IN  PACK  QVI  POST 
MVLTAS  ANGVSTIAS  FORTISSIMVS  MARTYR 
«T  VIXIT  ANNOS  '■?•  M  -XXXVI!!  CONIVG  •  SVO 
PERDVLCISSIMO  BENEMERENTI   FECIT. 


Pritnit?us  in  peace,  after  many  torments,  a  most  valiant  martyr. 
He  lived  thirty-eight  years,  more  or  less.  [His  wife]  raised  this  to 
h*^  dearest  husband,  the  well-deserving. 

HIC  GORDIANVS  GALLIAS   NVNCIVS 
IVGVLATVS   PRO   FIDE  CVM   FAMILIA  TOTA 
QVIESCVNT  IN   PACE 
THEOPHILA  ANCILLA   FECIT. 

Here  lies  Gordianus,  deputy  of  Gaul,  who  was  executed  for  the 
faith,  with  all  his  family :  they  rest  in  peace.  Theophila,  a  hand> 
maid,  set  up  this.* 


♦  From  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Agnes.    The  ancient  Martyrology  re- 
cor(\s  the  conversion  of  a  Roman  nobleman  of  this  name  in  the  time 


Tluir  Origin  ami  Early  History. 


99 


The  history  of  the  Catacombs  is  inextricably  inter- 
woven with  that  of  Christianity.  Their  very  structure 
reflects  the  character  of  the  times  in  which  they  were 
made.  The  absence  of  constraint  or  concealment,  and 
the  superior  construction  and  ornamentation  of  those 
belonging  to  the  earliest  times,  indicate  the  comparative 
security  of  the  church  before  it  had  awakened  the 
jealousy  or  fear  of  the  Roman  emperors.  Their  im- 
mense extension  and  crowded  galleries  testify  to  the 
rapid  increase  of  t!ie  Christian  community.  The  altered 
character  which  they  gradually  assumed,  the  obstructed 
passages,  the  masked  entrances,  devious  windings,  and 
devices  fcr  concealment  or  escape,  and  the  rudely 
scratched  inscriptions  and  uncouth  paintings,  betray  the 
sense  of  fear  and  the  kindling  rage  of  persecution  which 
pursued  the  hunted  Christians  to  these  subterraneous 
sanctuaries  of  the  faith.  Their  greater  magnificence 
and  more  ornate  structure,  the  costly  mosaics,  the  marble 
stairways,  and  richly  carved  sarcophagi  of  the  later  ages, 
tell  of  the  enthronement  of  Christianity  on  the  seat  of 
the  Csesars,  and  of  the  homage  paid  to  the  relics  and 
shrines  of  the  saints  and  martyrs.  And  their  debased 
architecture,  barbarous  paintings,  and  progressive  ruin 
during  the  later  years  of  their  history  indicate  the  grad- 
ual eclipse  of  art,  and  their  final  abandonment.  We 
must  therefore  carefully  determine  at  least  the  proximate 
date  of  any  particular  feature  if  we  would  correctly  in- 
terpret its  significance. 

of  Julian,  together  with  that  of  his  wife  and  fifty-three  members' of 
his  household,  and  his  subsequent  martyrdom  and  burial  in  the  Cata- 
combs. It  is  probable  that  Theophila  had  learned  in  Gaul  to  write 
Latin,  though  only  in  those  singular  Greek  characters  which,  as 
Julius  Caesar  informs  us  were  u;>ed  in  that  country,  and  that,  after 
the  death  of  the  whole  family,  she  employed  some  equally  unlettered 
stone-mason  to  engrave  »his  remarkable  inscription, 


too 


Tlw  Catacombs  of  R,.utc. 


The  last  and  most  terrible  persecution  of  the  church 
before  its  final  triumph  left  abundant  evidence  of  its 
violence  and  lengthened  duration  in  the  changes  which 
contemporaneously  took  place  in  the  Catacombs.  God 
prepared  a  place  for  his  saints,  and  hid  them  in  the  clefts 
of  the  rock  as  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand.  When  the 
public  observance  of  Christianity  was  proscribed  by  law 
the  believers  withdrew  from  the  light  of  day,  and  in  the 
inmost  and  darkest  recesses  of  these  subterranean  crypts, 
by  the  graves  of  their  martyred  dead,  enjoyed  the  con- 
solation of  religious  worship,  and  broke  tlu^  bread  and 
drank  the  wine  in  memory  of  their  dying  Lord.* 

But  after  the  decree  of  Valerian  which  forbade  the 
entering  or  holding  any  assemblies  in  the  Christian  cem- 
eteries, even  these  retreats  were  not  safe,  and  the  last 
sanctuaries  of  the  faith  were  unscrupulously  invaded. 
Persecution  relentlessly  followed  the  Christians  through 
the  labyrinthine  windings  of  the  Catacombs,  and  vio- 
lated the  sepulchres  of  the  sainted  dead  by  sacrilegious 
tumult  and  bloodshed.  Sometimes  the  heathen  soldiery, 
fearing  to  pursue  their  victims  into  these  unknown  pas- 
sages, blocked  up  the  entrance  to  prevent  their  escape; 
and  many  were  thus  buried  alive  and  perished  of  hunger 
in  these  chambers  of  gloom. f 

An  entire  change  in  ^he  construction  of  the  Cata- 
combs now  took  place.  They  became  obviously  de- 
signed for  purposes  of  safety  and  concealment.  The 
new  galleries  were  less  wide  and  lofty,  and  the  ioruii 
more  crowded  on  account  of  the  greater  difficulty  of 

*  De  Rossi  gives  several  dated  inscriptions  of  the  reign  of  Diocle- 
tian, (Nos.  i6  to  28,)  thus  absolutely  identifying  the  age  of  those 
portions  of  the  Catacombs. 

f  In  Hawthorne's  "  Marble  Faun  "  there  is  a  fantastic  legend  of 
**  The  Spectre  of  the  Cntacombs,"  the  ghost  of  an  apostate  betrayer 
of  the  Christians,  which  still  haunts  the  scene  uf  its  hateful  perfidy. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History, 


lOI 


removmg  the  excavated  material.  At  this  timet  too, 
many  of  the  lower /la/ri  were  made  for  additional  graves 
and  greater  secrecy.  The  main  entrances  were  blocked 
up  and  the  stairways  demolished.  Sometimes  entire 
galleries  were  filled  with  earth,  the  removal  of  which  is 
the  chief  obstacle  to  modern  exploration,  or  were  built  up 
with  masonry  to  obstruct  pursuit ;  and  means  of  escape 
were  provided,  in  case  of  forcible  invasion  of  these  re- 
treats. A  striking  example  of  this  occurs  in  the  Cata- 
comb of  Callixtus.  The  ancient  stairway  was  partially 
destroyed,  the  entrance  completely  obstructed,  and 
some  of  the  galleries  walled  up.  Narrow  passages  for 
escape  were  made  connecting  with  an  adjacent  arenarium^ 


Flff.  aa.— Secret  stalrwE^  into  ArenarlunL 

and  a  very  narrow  secret  stairway  constructed  from  the 
roof  of  the  latter  to  the  surface  of  the  ground,  as  shown 
in  the  section  above,  which  stairway  could  only  be 
reached  by  a  movable  ladder  connecting  it  with  the  floor.* 

♦  See  plan  of  this  areiiaritim  and  stairway  in  chap,  v,  fig.  26. 


\ 


103 


T/is  Catacombs  of  Romt, 


It  is  impossible  that  the  mass  of  the  Christian  commu- 
nity, or  even  any  considerable  proportion  of  it,  could  ever 
have  taken  refuge  in  these  subterraneous  crypts.  Their 
vast  extent  and  the  number  of  chambers  would  indeed 
permit  a  great  multitude  to  remain  concealed  for  a  time 
in  their  depths ;  but  the  difficulty  of  procuring  a  regular 
supply  of  food,  the  confined  atmosphere,  and  the  prob- 
able exhalation  of  noxious  gases  from  the  graves — espe- 
cially on  the  opening  of  a  bisomus^  or  double  tomb,  for  its 
second  inmate — seem  insuperable  obstacles.  As  it  was 
the  religious  leaders  of  the  Christian  community  who 
were  especially  obnoxious  to  those  in  power,  they  would 
be  the  most  likely  to  seek  concealment  in  the  Catacombs, 
not  from  inferiority  of  courage,  but,  like  the  afterward 
martyred  Cyprian,  that  they  might  the  better  guide  and 
govern  the  persecuted  church.  Hence  the  examples 
before  given  of  bishops  and  other  ecclesiastics  lying  hid- 
den, some  for  years,  in  these  depths,  and  visited  by  the 
faithful  for  instruction  or  for  the  celebration  of  worship* 
There  is  evidence,  however,  that  during  the  exacerba- 
tions of  persecution  private  Christians  sought  safety  in 
these  recesses,  and,  burrowing  in  their  depths,  evaded 
the  pursuit  of  their  enemies.  Tertullian  speaks  of  **  a 
lady,  unaccustomed  to  privation,  trembling  in  a  vault, 
apprehensive  of  the  capture  of  her  maid,  upon  whom 
she  depends  for  her  daily  food."  The  heads  of  Chris- 
tian families,  and  those  most  obnoxious  to  the  pagan 
authorities,  would  be  especially  likely  to  leave  the  fel- 
lowship of  the  living  in  order  to  live  in  security  among 
the  dead.     Father  Marchi  conjectures  that  supplies  of 

*  In  A.  D.  359  Liberius,  bishop  of  Rome,  lay  hid  for  a  year  in  the 
Catacomb  of  .St.  Agnes,  till  the  death  of  the  Arian  Constantius ;  and 
in  A.  D.  418  Boniface  I.  in  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Felicitas,  durin<r  the 
usurpation  of  the  anti)K>])e  Culalius. 


Their  Origin  attd  Early  Hisf^ry. 


103 


grain  were  laid  up  for  the  tnaintenanre  of  the  hidden 
fugitives,  and  l>c  Ko&si  deiicribes  certain  crypts  in  the 
Catacomb  of  Callixtus  which  were  probably  employed 
for  storing  corn  or  wine  in  time  of  persecution.  Fre- 
quent wells  occur,  amply  sufficient  for  the  supply  of 
water;  and  the  multitude  of  lamps  which  have  been 
found  would  dispel  the  darkness,  while  their  sudden 
extinction  .vould  prove  the  best  concealment  from  at- 
tack by  their  enemies.*  Hence  the  Christians  were 
stigmatized  as  a  skulking,  darkness-loving  race,  f  who 
fled  the  light  of  day  to  burrow  like  moles  in  the  earth. 

These  worse  than  Daedalian  labyrinths  were  admi- 
rably adapted  for  eluding  pursuit.  Familiar  with  their 
intricacies,  and  following  a  well-known  clew,  the  Chris- 
tian could  plunge  fearlessly  into  the  darkness,  where  his 
pursuer  would  soon  be  inextricably  lost.  Perchance 
the  sound  of  Christian  worship,  and  the  softened  cadence 
of  the  confessors'  hymn,  stealing  through  the  distant 
corridors,  may  have  fallen  with  strange  awe  on  the  souls 
of  the  rude  soldiery  stealthily  approaching  their  prey; 
and,  perhaps,  not  unfrequently  with  a  saving  and  siinc- 
tifying  power.  But  sometimes,  tracked  by  the  sleuth- 
hounds  of  persecution,  or  betrayed  by  some  wretched 
apostate  consumed  by  a  Judas-greed  of  gold,  the  Chris- 
tians were  surprised  at  their  devotions,  and  their  refuge 
became  their  sepulchre.  Such  was  the  tragic  fate  of 
Stephen,  slain  even  while  ministering  at  the  altar;  such 
the  event  described  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  when  a  hect: 
tomb  of  victims  were  immolated  at  once  by  heathen 
hate ;  such  the  peril  which  wrung  from  a  stricken  heart 
the  cry,  not  of  anger  but  of  grief,  Ttmpora  infausta^  qui- 

*  The  similar  excavations  of  Quesnel,  in  France,  were  long  inhab- 
ited by  both  human  beings  and  cattle, 
t  Latebrosa  et  lucifugax  natio. — Minuc.  Felix. 


if 


104 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


bus  inter  sacra  et  vota  ne  in  cavernis  quidem  salvari  possi- 
must — '*0  sad  tiroes  in  which,  among  sacred  rites  and 
prayers,  even  in  caverns,  we  are  not  safe  !  "  It  requires 
no  great  effort  of  imagination  to  conceive  the  dangers 
and  escapes  which  must  have  been  frequent  episodes  in 
the  heroic  lives  of  the  early  soldiers  of  the  cross,  ^f' 

In  the  Catacombs  inore  safely  than  elsewhere  could 
the  Christians  celebrate  the  ordinances  of  religion, 
often  under  cover  of  the  rites  of  sepulture,  which  might 
even  yet  be  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  their  enemies.  And 
next  to  their  funeral  purposes  this  seems  to  have  been 
iheir  chief  use.  For  this  many  of  their  principal  cham- 
bers and  chapels  were  excavated,  supplied  with  seats, 
ventilated  by  luminariy  and  adorned  with  biblical  or 
symbolical  paintings.  With  what  emotions  must  the 
primitive  believers  have  held  their  solemn  worship  and 
heard  the  words  of  life,  surrounded  by  the  dead  in 
Christ!  With  what  power  would  come  the  promise  of 
the  resurrection  of  the  body,  amid  the  crumbling  relics 
of  mortality !  How  fervent  their  prayers  for  their  com- 
panions in  tribulation,  when  they  themselves  stood  in 
jeopardy  every  hour !  Their  holy  ambition  was  to  wit- 
ness a  good  confession  even  unto  eath.  They  burned 
to  emulate  the  zeal  of  the  martyrs  of  the  faith,  the 
plumeless  heroes  of  a  nobler  chivalry  than  that  of  arms, 
the  Christian  athletes  who  won  in  the  bloody  conflicts 
of  the  arena,  or  amid  the  fiery  tortures  of  the  stake,  not 
a  crown  of  laurel  or  of  bay,  but  a  crown  of  life,  starry 
and  unwithering,  that  can  never  pass  away.  Their 
humble  graves  are  grander  monuments  than  the  trophied 
tombs  cf  Rome's  proud  conquerors  upon  the  Appian 
Way.  Lightly  may  we  tread  beside  their  ashes ;  rever- 
ently may  we  mention  their  names.  Though  the  bodily 
presence  of  those  conscripts  of  the  tomb — the  forlorn 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


t05 


hope  of  the  army  of  Christianity — no  longer  walked 
am  \g  men,  their  intrepid  spirit  animated  the  heart  of 
each  melnber  of  that  little  community  of  persecuted 
Christians,  "  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy ;  who 
wandered  in  deserts,  and  in  mountains,  and  in  dens  and 
caves  of  the  earth,  .  .  .  being  destitute,  afflicted,  tor- 
mented."* 

It  is  impossible  to  arrive  at  even  an  approximate  esti- 
mate of  the  number  of  victims  of  the  early  persecutions. 
That  number  has  sometimes,  no  doubt,  been  greatly  ex- 
aggerated. It  has  also,  in  defiance  of  the  testimony 
of  contemporary  history,  been  unreasonably  minified.f 
Tacitus  asserts  that  under  Nero  a  great  multitude  t 
were  convicted  and  punished.  Pliny  says  the  temples 
were  almost  deserted  §  through  this  contagious  super- 
stition. Juvenal,  Martial,  and  other  classical  authors, 
notice  the  extraordinary  sufferings  of  the  Christians. 
Cyprian,  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  says,  "  It 
is  impossible  to  number  the  martyrs  of  Christ."  ||  Euse- 
bius,  an  eye-witness  of  the  last  persecution,  states  that 
innumerable  multitudes  suffered  during  its  prevalence. 
After  describing  their  excruciating  tortures,  he    -ids : 


*  Compare  the  following  spirited  lines  of  Bemis : 

"  La  terre  avail  gemi  sous  le  fer  des  tyrans ; 
EUe  cachait  encore  des  martyrs  expirans. 
Qui  dans  les  noirs  detours  des  grottes  recul^es 
D^robaient  aux  bourreaux  leurs  t^tes  mutil^es." 

Poetne  de  la  Rtligion  Vengee^  chap.  viii. 

t  See  especially  Dodwell's  learned  but  unsatisfactory  Essay,  De 
Paucitate  Martyrum,  and  Gibbou's  laboured  extenuation  of  the  sever- 
ity of  the  persecutors. 

X  Ingens  multitudo. — Atin.,  xv. 

§  Jam  desolata  templa. — Epis.,  97,  lib.  x. 

II  Exuberante  copia  virtutis  et  fidei  numerari  non  possunt  martyres 
Christi. — Lib.  de  Exhort.  Martyr.^  c.  xi. 


io6 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


!! 


"  And  all  these  things  were  doing  not  for  a  few  days, 
but  for  a  series  of  whole  years.  At  one  time  ten  or  more, 
then  twenty,  again  thirty  or  even  sixty,  and  sometimes  a 
hundred  men,  with  their  wives  and  children,  were  slain 
in  one  day."*  He  also  describes  the  destruction  of  a 
Christian  town,  with  all  its  inhabitants,  by  fire,  f  Lac- 
tantius,  also  a  contemporary  witness,  tells  us  that  the 
Christians  were  often  surrounded  on  all  sides  and  burnt 
together.  J 

It  is  very  remarkable  that  so  few  martyrs'  epitaphs 
have  been  found  in  the  Catacombs,  not  more  than  five 
or  six  altogether,  and  some  of  these  are  not  of  unques^ 
tioned  genuineness.  But  this  may  be  attributed  to  the 
humility  and  modesty  of  the  early  Christians,  who  shrank 
from  claiming  for  the  sufferers  for  the  truth  the  august 
title  of  martyr,  which  they  restricted  to  the  one  faithful 
and  true  witness,  Jesus  Christ.  "  We,"  said  the  victims 
of  persecution  at  Lyons,  "  are  only  mean  and  humble 
confessors." 

There  do  occur,  it  is  true,  certain  inscriptions  of 
a  memorial  character  and  of  later  date  than  the 
time  of  the  persecution,  some  of  which  commemorate  a 
large  number  of  martyrs,  but  they  are  of  little  or  no 
historic  value.  Such  is  the  inscription  to  three  thou- 
sand martyrs  in  the  Catacomb  of  Priscilla,  already 
given,§  and  the  following  from  the  Callixtan  Catacomb : 
MARCELLA  ET  CHRiSTi  MARTVRES  ccccL — "  Marcella  and 
four  hundred  and  fifty  martyrs  in  Christ."  Ancient  itin- 
eraries speak  of  eighty,  or  even  eight  hundred,  martyrs 
buried  in  one  spot  in  the  Catacombs;  and  Prudentius 


*  Euseb.,  Hist.  Ercles.,  viii,  9.  f  /<5/</.,  viii,   11. 

X  Universum  populum  cum  ipso  pariter  conventiculo  concremaviu 
Lactan.,  lustit.  Divin.^  v,  1 1  :  CJregatim  amburebantur. — Ibid. 


L. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


107 


declares  that  he  saw  the  remains  of  some  sixty  in  a 
single  grave.*  But  surpassing  all  the  others  in  exaggera- 
tion is  an  inscription  in  the  church  of  St.  Sebastian 
commemorating  one  hundred  and  seventy-four  thou- 
sand holy  martyrs,  and  forty-six  bishops,  also  martyrs, 
said  to  be  interred  in  the  neighbouring  Catacomb. 
Another  ancient  tradition  asserts  that  twelve  thousand 
Christians,  who  were  employed  in  building  the  Baths  of 
Diocletian,  were  buried  in  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Zeno.  \ 
Piazza  asserts  that  two  hundred  and  eighty-five  Chris- 
tians were  put  to  death  in  two  days,  under  the  Emperor 
Claudius  II.,  A.  D.  268,  and  that  more  than  two  thou- 
sand were  executed  for  refusing  to  sacrifice  to  the  image 
of  the  sun.  Indeed,  some  Roman  archaeologists  discern 
in  every  palm  branch  or  cup,  which  are  so  frequently 
found  in  the  Catacombs,  irrefragable  evidence  of  the 
martyr's  tomb.  J 

Such  atrocious  cruelty  and  lavish  destruction  of  life 

*  Sexaginta  illic  defossas  mole  sub  una 

Reliquias  memini  me  didicisse  hominum. — PfrisUph.,  xi. 

t  The  story  of  the  martyrdom  of  ten  thousand  Christians  on  Mount 
Ararat,  under  Trajan,  and  of  the  massacre  of  the  Thundering  Legion, 
consisting  of  six  thousand  Christians,  by  Maximian,  are  fictions  of 
later  date.  In  the  Church  of  St.  Gerion  at  Cologne  are  many  re- 
puted relics,  chiefly  heads,  of  these  last.  The  legendary  tendency  to 
exaggeration  in  numbers  seems  irresistible.  In  commemorating  the 
slaughter  of  the  Innocents  the  Greek  Church  canonized  fourteen 
thousand  martyrs.  Another  notion,  derived  from  Rev.  xiv,  3,  swelled 
the  number  to  a  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand.  The  absurd  Htory 
of  the  eleven  thousand  martyrs  of  Cologne  is  probably  founded  en  a 
mistaken  rendering  of  the  inscription  vrsvla  •  kt*  xi  •  mm  •  vv,  inter- 
preted, Ursula  and  eleven  thousand  virgins  instead  of  eleven  virgin 
martyrs. — Maitlaiid,  p.  163.  A  Romish  legend,  of  course  exaggerated, 
says  seventy  thousand  Christians  suffered  martyrdom  in  the  Coliseum. 

X  In  Rock's  Niertirgia,  a  Romanist  work,  is  an  account  of  a  f 'ata- 
comb  at  Nipi,  near  Rome,  in  which  are  said  to  be  thirty-eight  mar- 
tyr tombs,  the  epitaph  of  one  of  whom  plainly  asserts  his  death  by  xle- 


io8 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


as  these  traditions,  even  if  exaggerated,  imply,  seem 
incredible;  but  the  pages  of  the  contemporary  his- 
toiians,  Eusebius  and  Lactantius,  give  too  minute 
and  circumstantial  accounts  of  the  persecutions  of 
which  they  were  eye-witnesses  to  allow  us  to  adopt 
the  complacent  theory  of  Gibbon,  that  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Christians  were  comparatively  few  and  in- 
significant. "  We  ourselves  have  seen,"  says  the  bishop 
of  Caesarea,  "  crowds  of  persons,  some  beheaded,  others 
burned  alive,  in  a  single  day,  bO  that  the  murderous 
weapons  were  blunted  and  broken  to  pieces,  and  the 
executioners,  wearied  with  slaughter,  were  obliged  to 
give  over  the  work  of  blood.*  .  .  .  They  constantly  vied 
with  each  other,"  he  continues,  "in  inventing  new  tor- 
tures, as  if  there  were  prizes  offered  to  him  who  should 
contrive  the  greatest  cruelties."!  Men  whose  only 
crime  was  their  religion  were  scourged  with  iron  wires 
or  with  plutnbatcR^  that  is,  chains  laden  with  bronze  balls, 
specimens  of  which  have  been  found  in  the  martyrs* 
graves,  till  the  flesh  hung  in  shreds,  and  even  the  bones 
were  broken;  they  were  bound  in  chains  of  red-hot 
iron,  and  roasted  over  fires  so  slow  that  they  lingered 
for  hours,  or  even  days,  in  their  mortal  agony ;  their  flesh 

capitation:  ma.rtyrio  coronatvs   capite   trvncatvs  iacet — 
*•  Crowned  with  martyrdom,  having  been  beheaded  .  .  lies  here." 

The  beautiful  terseness  of  the  following  would  seem  to  indicate  their 
genuineness '.  "  Paulus  was  put  to  death  in  tortures,  in  order  that  he 
might  live  in  eternal  bliss.'* 

*'  dementia,  tortured,  dead,  sleeps ;  will  rise." 

From  the  following,  found  on  a  cup  attached  to  a  tomb,  it  would 
seem  that  the  martyr  was  first  compelled  to  drink  p>oison,  which 
proving  ineffectual,  he  was  dispatched  by  the  sword :  "  The  deadly 
draught  dared  not  present  to  Constans  the  crown,  which  the  steel 
was  permitted  to  offer." 

^  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccles.^  viii,  9.  f  Ibid.^  viii,  12. 


Tluir  Origin  and  Early  History. 


109 


was  scraped  from  the  very  bone  with  ragged  shells,  or 
lacerated  with  burning  pincers,  iron»hooks,  and  instru- 
ments with  horrid  teeth  or  claws,  examples  of  which 
have  been  found  in  the  Catacombs ;  *  molten  metal  and 
plates  of  red-hot  brass  were  applied  to  the  naked  body 
till  it  became  one  indistinguishable  wound;  and  min- 
gled salt  and  vinegar  or  unslaked  lime  were  rubbed 
upon  the  quivering  flesh,  torn  and  bleeding  from  the 
rack  or  scourge — tortures  more  inhuman  than  savage 
Indian  ever  wreaked  upon  his  mortal  foe.  Men  were 
condemned  by  the  score  and  hundred  to  labour  in  the 
mines,  with  the  sinews  of  one  leg  severed,  with  one  eye 
scooped  out  and  the  socket  seared  with  red-hot  iron. 
Chaste  matrons  and  tender  virgins  were  given  over — 
worse  fate  a  thousand-fold  than  death — to  dens  of  shame 
and  the  gladiators'  lust,  and  subjected  to  nameless  in- 
dignities, too  horrible  for  words  to  utter,  f  And  all 
these  intense  sufferings  were  endured  often  with  joy  and 
exultation,  for  the  love  of  a  divine  Master,  when  a  single 
word,  a  grain  of  incense  cast  upon  the  heathen  altar, 
would  have  released  the  victims  from  their  agonies. 

*  Called  unguke^  from  their  resemblance  to  the  claws  of  a  beast  of 
prey. 

t  See  examyiles  of  the  above  named  tortures  in  Eusebius's  Hut. 
Eccies.,  V,  2;  vi,  41;  viii,  14;  T/ie  Martyrs  of  PalestinCy  viii;  and 
Lactantius,  passim. 

On  the  22d  o  April,  1823,  says  Cardinal  Wiseman,  a  grave  in  the 
Catacombs  was  opened,  and,  beside  the  white  and  polished  bones  of  a 
youth  of  eighteen,  whose  epitaph  it  ^^re,  was  found  the  skeleton  of  a 
boy  of  twelve  or  thirteen,  charred  and  blackened  chiefly  about  the  up- 
per part.  This  was  probably  the  remains  of  a  youthful  martyr  hastily 
interred  in  another's  grave,  to  come  to  light  after  the  lapse  of  fifteen 
centuries. 

Prudentius  describes  the  martyr  Hippolytus  as  torn  limb  from  limb: 

Cemere  erat  ruptis  compagibus  ordine  nullo. 
Membra  per  inccrtos  sparsa  jacere  situs. 


no 


The  Cataco,nbs  of  Rome, 


!l 


No  lapse  of  time,  and  no  recoil  from  the  idolatrous 
homage  paid  in  after  ages  to  the  martyr's  relics,  should 
impair  in  our  hearts  the  profound  and  rational  reverence 
with  which  we  bend  before  his  tomb.       77 

We  are  left,  however,  for  the  most  part,  without  au- 
thentic record  of  the  tragic  scenes  of  Christian  martyr- 
dom. The  primitive  church,  indeed,  treasurtd  up  these 
memories  of  moral  heroism  as  her  most  precious  legacy 
to  after  times.  Clement  of  Rome,  it  is  said,  appointed 
notaries  to  search  out  the  acts  of  the  martyrs ;  *  and,  as 
we  have  seen,  Fabian  suffered  death  for  his  zeal  in  pre- 
serving these  records.!  But  these  precious  documents 
for  the  most  part  perished  in  the  Diocletian  persecution, 
although  fragments  were  probably  incorporated  with  the 
later  martyrologies.  Tli?  earlier  Acts  are  the  more  au- 
thentic, and  the  more  simple  in  character.  Those  of 
later  date  become  more  and  more  florid  in  style,  and  are 
overladen  with  the  incredible  and  impossible,  till  their 
historic  value  is  entirely  destroyed,  except  when  they 
are  corroborated  by  collateral  testimony,  or  by  the 
monumental  evidence  of  the  Catacombs.  Prudentius, 
attracted  to  Rome  by  the  fame  of  these  repositories  of 
the  martyrs'  ashes,  wrote  a  treatise  J  on  their  sufferings, 
in  which  his  fervid  imagination  and  rhetorical  style 
found  amplest  indulgence.  Later  writers  still  further 
embellished  and  exaggerated  the  original  Acts,  till  the 
wildest  stories  of  ancient  mythology,  or  mediaeval  le- 
gend, were   surpassed   by  the   monkish   martyrologists. 

♦  Lib.  Pontif.,  c.  iv.  Thesv  notaries  were  called  by  the  Greeks 
o^vypdijtoi  or  raxvyptitltoi,  that  is,  short-hand  writers.  Eusebius  says 
they  reported  the  extemporaneous  discourses  of  Origen.  //is/, 
Eccles.^  vi,  36. 

t  Hie  fecit  sex  vel  septem  subdiaconor,  qui  septem  notariis  immi- 
nerent  ut  gesta  martyrum  fidtiiter  coUigerent. — Lib.  Pontif. 

\  The  Peristephanon — "Concerning  the  [martyrs]  crowns.*' 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History.  1 1 1 

This  "holy  romance,"  as  Gibbon  contemptuously 
calls  it,  becomes  little  else  than  a  record  of  the  most 
astounding  miracles,  the  most  horrible  tortures,  and  of 
more  than  human  endurance.*  It  minutelv  describes 
the  conflict  between  the  Christian  and  his  heathen 
persecutor  :  hinc  martyr^  illinc  carnifex — here  the  mar- 
tyr, there  the  executioner.  The  one  wreaks  his  rage 
upon  his  victim,  the  other  exhibits  a  stoical  endurance 
of  suffering  rivaling  that  of  the  American  savage  at  the 
funeral  stake,  or  else  an  insensibility  to  pain  that  lessens 
the  merit  of  his  acts.  "It  is  cooked,  turn  and  eat."t 
says  St.  Lawrence,  broiling  on  a  gridiron.  He  feels  no 
pain  from  the  vinegar  and  salt  rubbed  on  his  bleeding 
wounds.  "  Salt  me  the  more,  that  I  may  be  incorruptible," 
says  Tarachus  to  his  torturer.  He  continues  to  speak  after 
his  tongue  is  torn  out  by  the  roots-.  The  lacerations  of 
the  ungulae  assume  to  the  excited  imagination  the  form 
of  the  name  of  Christ.^  Divine  odours  breathe  from 
the  body,  which  shines  like  gold  amid  the  flames  that 
refuse  to  kindle  upon  it.  A  voice  from  heaven  hails  the 
invincible  conqueror,  and  his  soul  in  the  form  of  a 
dove   ascends  to   the  skies.  §      The  undying   instincts 

*  (n  the  thirteenth  century  many  of  the  stories  were  collected  in 
the  Legenda  Aurea  by  Jacques  de  Voragine,  an  archbishop  of  Ge- 
noa. After  the  discovery  of  printing  the  press  teemed  with  this 
legendary  literature,  Flowers  of  the  Saints,  Acts  of  the  Martyrs,  etc., 
embellished  with  numerous  engravings,  representing  with  horrible 
minuteness  the  Dantean  tortures  on  which  the  monkish  mind  loved 
to  expatiate. 

f  Assatura  est :  versa  et  mandaca. 
%  — Latus  ungula  virgineum 
Pulsat  utrimque,  et  ad  ossa  secat, 
Eulalia  numerante  notas. 
Scriberis  ecce  I  inihi  Domine ; 
Qu4m  juvat  hos  apices  Xegtrt.^rPeristeph.,  Hymn  ix. 

§  See  martyrdom  of  Polycarp,  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eceles.^  iv.  15. 


TI2 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I 


of  nature  are  fl  '^rantly  violated  in  some  of  the  Acts. 
A  mother  rebukes  her  child  for  begging  a  cup  of  water 
while  suffering  under  the  rods  of  the  lictors ;  and  while 
it  is  beheaded  before  her  eyes  she,  alone  unmoved,  sings 
a  versicle  of  thanksgiving.*  Often  the  martyr  endeav- 
ours to  exasperate  with  taunts  and  defiance  the  heathen 
magistrate,  who  gnashes  his  teeth  and  rolls  his  eyes  in 
impotent  rage.f  "  Be  dumb,  wretch !  O  serpent  of 
darkest  mind,  a  curse  be  upon  thee !  "  exclaims  St.  Boni- 
face to  his  executioner.  Vincentius  menaces  his  judge 
with  the  fiery  fate  of  the  bottomless  pit.  {  Ttiese  Acts 
of  the  Martyrs  were  appointed  to  be  read  in  the 
churches,  §  till  they  were  prohibited  by  the  Council 
of  TruUo,  A.  D.  706. 

The  enthusiasm  for  martyrdom  prevailed,  at  tiucs, 
almost  like  an  epidemic.  It  was  one  of  the  most  remark  > 
able  features  of  the  ages  of  persecutior*.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  terrific  tortures  to  which  they  were  exposed,  the 
fiercer  the  tempest  of  heathen  rage  the  higher  and  brighter 
burned  the  zeal  of  the  Christian  heroes.  Age  after  age 
summoned  the  soldiers  of  Christ  to  the  conflict  whose 


^ 


*  At  sola  mater  hisce  lamentis  caret, 

Soli  sereno  frons  renidet  gaudio. — Prudent.,  Peristeph, 
t  His  persecutor  saucius 

Pallet,  rubescit,  sestuat, 

Insana  torqueus  lumina. 

Spumasqt:e  Trent. jns  egtan.t.—Ibid.f  Hymn  u. 
\  Bitumen  et  mixtum  pice 

Imo  implicabunt  Tartaro. — Ibid. 

/  §  Hence  called  legends,  a  word  which  ha»  in  consecjuence  come  to 
signify  the  incredible  or  fictitious.  Upon  a  mere  veibal  mistake  was 
founded  the  account  by  the  mediaeval  writers  of  a  most  formidable 
weapon  called  the  catomus,  which  name  gave  vise  to  the  verbs  catomare 
and  catftnizare^  to  express  its  use.  It  was  at  length  discovered  that 
catomus  was  but  the  \jaAm  form  of  the  Greek  adverbial  phrase  /car 
ufAuv,  signifying,  "upon  the  shoulders."     (Maitland,  p.  167.) 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History.  113 

highest  guerdon  was  death.  They  bound  persecution 
as  a  wreath  about  their  brows,  and  exulted  in  the  "  glo- 
rious infamy  "  of  suffering  for  their  Lord.  The  brand 
of  shame  became  the  badge  of  highest  honour.  Besides 
the  joys  of  heaven  they  won  imperishable  fame  on 
earth ;  and  the  memory  of  a  humble  slave  was  often 
haloed  with  a  glory  surpassing  that  of  a  Curtius  or  Ho- 
ratius.  The  meanest  hind  was  ennobled  by  the  accolade 
of  martyrdom  to  the  loftiest  peerage  of  the  skies.  His 
consecration  of  suffering  was  elevated  to  a  sacrament, 
and  called  the  baptism  of  fire  or  of  blood. 

Burning  to  obtain  the  prize,  the  impetuous  candidates 
for  death  often  pressed  with  eager  haste  to  seize  the  palm 
of  victory  and  the  martyr's  crown.  They  trod  with  joy 
the  fiery  path  to  glory,  and  went  as  gladly  to  the  stake 
as  to  a  marriage  feast.  "Their  fetters,"  says  Euse- 
bius,  "seemed  like  the  golden  ornaments  of  a  bride.*** 
They  desired  martyrdom  more  ardently  than  men  after- 
ward sought  a  bishopric. f  They  exulted  amid  their 
keenest  pangs  that  they  were  counted  worthy  to  suffer 
for  their  divine  Master.  "  Let  the  ungulae  tear  us,** 
exclaims  TertuUian,  %  "the  crosses  bear  our  weight,  the 
flames  envelope  us,  the  sword  divide  our  throats,  the 
wild  beasts  spring  upon  us  ;  the  very  posture  of  prayer 
is  a  preparation  for  every  punishment."  "  These  things,*' 
says  St.  Basil,  "  so  far  from  being  a  terror,  are  rather 
a  pleasure  and  a  recreation  to  us.  §  "  The  tyrants  were 
armed,'*  says  St.  Chrysostom,  "  and  the  martyrs  naked  ; 

.   *  Hist.  Eccles.f  v,  i. 

fMultique  avidius  turn  martyria  gloriosis  mortibus  quaerebant 
quam  nunc  episcopatus  pravis  ambitionibus  appetunt.  —  Sulpio. 
Sever.,  tiist.t  lib.  ii. 

X  Apol.,  c.  30. 

§  Gregory  Nazianzen.  Orat.  de  Laud.  Basil.  See  also  the  strik- 
ing language  of  Ignatius.    (Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccles.,  iii,  36.) 

8 


114 


The  Catacombs  of  Home. 


\ 


:l' 


yet  they  that  were  naked  got  the  victory,  and  they  that 
carried  arm«  were  vanquished."*  Strong  in  the  as- 
surance ^mortality,  they  bade  defiance  to  the 
sword. 

Though  weak  in  body  they  seemed  clothed  with 
vicarious  strength,  and  confident  that  though  "counted 
as  sheep  for  the  slaughter,"  naught  could  separate  them 
from  the  love  of  Christ.  Wrapped  in  their  fiery  vesture 
and  shroud  of  flame,  they  yet  exulted  in  their  glorious 
victory.  While  the  leaden  hail  fell  on  the  mangled 
frame,  and  the  eyes  filmed  with  the  shadows  of  death, 
the  spirit  was  enbraved  by  the  beatific  vision  of  the 
opening  heaven,  and  above  the  roar  of  the  mob  fell 
sweetly  on  the  inner  sense  the  assurance  of  eternal  life. 
"  No  group,  indeed,  of  Oceanides  was  there  to  console 
the  Christian  Prometheus;  yet  to  his  upturned  eye 
countless  angels  were  visible  —  their  anthem  swept  sol- 
emnly to  his  ear — and  the  odours  of  an  opening  paradise 
filled  the  air.  Though  the  dull  ear  of  sense  heard 
nothing,  he  could  listen  to  the  invisible  Coryphaeus  as 
he  invited  him  to  heaven  and  promised  him  an  eternal 
crown." f  The  names  of  the  "great  army  of  martyrs," 
though  forgotten  by  men,  are  written  in  the  Book  of 
Life.     **  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his." 

There  is  a  record,  traced  on  high, 
That  shall  endure  eternally ; 
The  angel  standing  by  God's  throne 
Treasures  there  each  word  and  groan ; 
And  not  the  martyr's  speech  alone, 

•  Chrys.    Horn.  74,  de  Martyr. 

f  Kip,  p.  88  —  from  Maitland,  p.  146.  Sometimes  the  ardour  for 
martyrdom  rose  into  a  passion,  or  indeed  an  epidemic.  Eusebius  says, 
(flist.  Eccies.f  viii,  6,)  that  in  Nicomedia  "  Men  and  women  with  a 
certain  divine  and  inexpressible  alacrity  rushed  into  the  fire." 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History.  1 15 

But  every  wound  is  thekc  depicted, 
With  every  circumstance  of  pain — 

The  crimson  stream,  the  gash  inflict  sd— 
And  not  a  drop  is  shed  in  vain.* 

This  spirit  of  martyrdom  was  a  new  principle  in  so- 
ciety. It  had  no  classicAl  counterpart.!  Socrates  and 
Seneca  suffered  with  fortitude,  but  not  with  faith.  The 
loftiest  pagan  philosophy  dwindled  into  insignificance 
before  the  sul)limity  of  Christian  hope.  This  looked 
beyond  the  shadows  of  time  and  the  sordid  cares  of 
earth  to  the  grandeur  of  the  Infinite  and  the  Eternal. 
The  heroic  deaths  of  the  believers  exhibited  a  spiritual 
power  mightier  than  the  primal  instincts  of  nature, 
the  love  of  wife  or  child,  or  even  of  life  itself.  Like  a 
solemn  voice  falling  on  the  dull  ear  of  mankind,  these 
holy  examples  urged  the  inquiry,  "  What  shall  it  profit 
a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own 
soul  ?  "  And  thr  voice  awakened  an  echo  in  full  many 
a  heart.  The  mirtyrs  made  more  converts  by  their 
deaths  than  in  their  lives.  "  Kill  us,  rack  us,  condemn 
us,  grind  us  to  powder,"  exclaims  the  intrepid  Christian 
Apologist ;  "  our  numbers  increase  in  proportion  as  you 
mow  us  down."  J  The  earth  was  drunk  with  the  blood 
of  the  saints,  but  still  they  multiplied  and  grew,  glori- 
ously illustrating  the  perennial  truth  —  Sanguis  ntarty- 
nm  semen  ecdesice.^ 

*  Inscripta  Christo  pagina  immortalis  est, 
Excepit  adstans  angelus  coram  Deo. 
Et  quae  locutus  martyr,  et  quae  pertulit : 
Nee  verbum  solum  disserentis  condidit, 
Omnis  notata  est  sanguinis  dimensio. 
Quae  vis  doloris,  quive  segmenti  modus : 
Guttam  cruoris  iile  nullam  perdidit. — Peristeph. 

\  The  pagans  called  the  martyrs  fiiadui^aroi,  or  self-murderers. 

X  Tertul.,  Apo/.f  c.  50. 

§  As  early  as  the  middle  of  the  second  century  Justin  Martyr  says, 


Ii6 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


!• 


Christianity,  after  long  repression,  became  at  length 
triumphant.  The  church  on  the  conversion  of  Con- 
staptine  emerged  from  the  concealment  of  the  Cata- 
combs to  the  sunshine  of  imperial  favour.  The  legend 
of  the  Seven  Sleepers  of  Kphesus  strikingly  illustrates 
the  wondrous  transformation  of  society.  These  Chris- 
tian brothers,  taking  shelter  in  a  cave  during  the  Decian 
persecution,  awoke,  according  to  the  legend,  after  a 
slumber  of  over  a  century,  to  find  Christianity  every- 
where dominant,  and  a  Christian  emperor  on  the  throne 
of  the  Caesars.*  The  doctrines  of  Christ,  like  the  rays 
of  the  sun,  quickly  irradiated  the  world. f  With  choirs 
and  hymns,  in  cities  and  villages,  in  the  highways  and 
markets,  the  praises  of  the  Almighty  were  sung.  %  The 
enemies  of  God  were  as  though  they  had  not  been.  § 

"  There  is  not  a  nation,  C>reek  or  Barbarian,  or  of  any  other  name, 
even  of  those  that  wander  in  tribes  or  live  in  tents,  among  whom 
prayers  and  thanksgiving  are  not  ofTered  to  the  Father  and  Creator 
of  the  universe  in  the  name  of  the  crucifietl  Jesus."  The  decree  of 
Maximin  states  that  almost  all  men  had  abandoned  the  worship  of 
the  gods  and  joined  the  Christian  sect :  1,\t6m>  tvnavraq  uvOpuirovf^ 
KaTuXeiiltOeiaiK  fV(  ^<*'>'  ^^^*'  OpiJfJxeia^,  u^t  Idvti  ruv  XpitTTiauuv  avftfie- 
fiixora^  Euseb.,  //ist.  £ccUs.,  \x,  9.  Lucianus  of  Antioch  says  that 
before  the  last  persecution  the  greater  part  of  the  world,  including 
whole  cities,  had  yielded  allegiance  to  the  truth  —  Pars  paene  mundi 
jam  major  huic  verit.iti  aJstipulatur ;  urb^s  integrae  ;  etc. — Trans, 
of  Euseb.  by  Rufinus. 

♦  Even  the  sanguine  imagination  of  TertulHan  cannot  conceive  the 
possibility  of  this  event.  **  Sed  et  Caesares  credidissent  super  Christo," 
he  exclaims,  *'si  aut  Csesares  non  essent  seculo  necessario,  aut  si  et 
Christiani  potuissent  esse  Csesares." — Aj>oi-\  c>  21. 

f  Ola  ng  ^Xiov  ^oXf/. — Euseb.,  ///>/.  Euks.^  ii,  3. 

X  Ibid.,  ix,  I ;  X,  9. 

§  Ibid.^  X,  4.  Literally,  "  They  are  no  more  because  th^y  never 
were."  In  his  eloquent  oration  on  the  renovation  of  the  cathedral 
of  Tyre  Eusebius  applies,  with  remarkable  elegance  and  propriety, 
the  promises  of  Scripture  concerning  the  restoration  of  the  exiled 
Jews  from  Babylon   and   the    final   establishment  of  the  church  qf 


u 


Thi'ir  Origin  and  Early  llistoiy. 


«'7 


The  Lord  brought  up  the  vine  of  Christianity  from  a 
far  land,  and  cast  out  the  heathen,  and  planted  and 
watered  it,  till  it  twined  round  the  sceptre  of  the  Cxsars, 
wreathed  the  columns  of  the  Capitol,  and  filled  the 
whole  land.  The  heathen  fanes  were  deserted,  the 
gods  discrowned,  and  the  pagan  flanien  no  longer  offered 
sacrifice  to  the  Capitoline  Jove.  Rome,  which  had 
dragged  so  many  conquered  divinities  in  triumph  at  its 
chariot  wheels,  at  length  yielded  to  a  mightier  than  all 
the  gods  of  Olympus.  The  old  faiths  faded  from  the 
firmament  of  human  thought  as  the  stars  of  midnight 
at  the  dawn  of  day.  The  banished  deities  forsook  their 
ancient  seats.  They  walked  no  longer  in  the  vale  of 
Tempe  or  in  the  grove  of  Daphne.*  The  naiads  bathed 
not  in  Scamander's  stream  nor  Simois,  nor  the  nereids 
in  the  waters  of  the  bright  ^^gean  Sea.  The  nymphs 
and  dryads  ceased  to  haunt  the  sylvan  solitudes.  The 
oreads  walked  no  more  in  light  on  Ida's  lofty  top.  , 

O  ye  vain  false  gods  of  Hellas  1 
Ye  are  vanished  evermore  ! 

Long  before  the  recognition  of  Christianity  as  the 
religion  of  the  empire  its  influence  had  been  felt  per- 
meating the  entire  community.  Amid  the  disintegra- 
tion of  society  it  was  the  sole  conservative  element  — 
the  salt  which  preserved  it  from  corruption.  In  the 
midst  of  anarchy  and  confusion  a  community  was  being 
organized  on  a  principle   previously  unknown  in  the 

God  (Psa.  Ixxx ;  xcviii ;  Isa.  Hi ;  liv)  to  the  condition  of  Christianity 
in  his  day.     The  above  citations  ore  given  almost  in  his  very  words. 

*  A  few  years  after  the  death  of  Constantine  the  Emperor  Julian 
found  at  this  celebratetl  shrine  of  Apollo,  on  the  festival  of  the  god, 
instead  of  the  hecatombs  of  oxen  and  the  crowds  of  worshippers 
which  he  expected,  only  a  single  goose,  and  a  pale  and  solitary  priest 
;n  the  decayed  and  deserted  temple. — Gibbon,  ii,  448,  Am.  ed. 


ii8 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


'\ 


heathen  world,  ruling  not  by  terror  but  by  love ;  by 
raoral  power,  not  by  physical  force ;  inspired  by  lofty 
faith  amid  a  world  of  unbelief,  and  cultivating  moral 
purity  amid  the  reeking  abominations  of  a  sensual 
age. 

Yet  this  mighty  energy  thus  at  work  eluded  the  no- 
tice, or  excited  only  the  disdain,  of  some  of  the  keen- 
est observers  and  greatest  thinkers  the  world  has  seen. 
Classical  literature  contains  only  a  few  short  notices  of 
that  religion  which  was  transforming  the  age.  A  galaxy 
of  philosophers  and  historians,  gazing  mournfully  at  the 
seething  mass  of  moral  putrefaction  around  them,  and 
profoundly  conscious  of  its  apparently  cureless  evil, 
treated  as  contemptible  the  most  powerful  moral  agent 
in  the  world  —  that  regenerative  principle  which  was  to 
reorganize  society  on  a  higher  type  than  ever  was  known 
before.*  The  kingdom  of  heaven  cometh  not  with 
observation,  and  paganism  seemed  entirely  unconscious 
of  its  impending  doom. 

But  this  wonderful  influence,  which  accomplished  so 
much,  seemed  at  length  strangely  to  lose  its  power,  and 
did  not  fulfil  the  regenerative  work  which  it  began.  It 
failed  to  check  the  degeneracy  of  the  age  or  to  avert 
the  dissolution  of  the  empire.  The  many  crimes  of 
that  colossal  orgy  cried  to  heaven  for  vengeance.  The 
taint  was  too  inveterate  to  be  eradicated ;  the  evil  was 
immedicable ;  Rome  was  already  effete  and  moribund. 
It  was  weighed  in  the  balance  and  found  wanting. 
Therefore  the  inexorable  penalty,  which  evermore  fol- 
lows wrong,  as  a  shadow  its  substance,  was  suffered  to 
descend.     An   awful    Nemesis,  like  an  avenging  Fate, 


♦  S«c  a  thoughtful  essay  on  this  topic  in  Froude's  Short  Studies  on 
Great  Subjects^  First  Series. 


Their  Origin  and  Early  History. 


119 


overtook  the  great  and  wicked  city  in  its  pride  and 
guilt ;  and  the  mystical  Babylon  of  the  West,  reeking  with 
sensuality,  idolatry,  and  blood,  soon  beheld  the  Goths 
at  her  gates,  and  the  Huns  within  her  walls.* 

*  The  church  itself  experienced  many  corruptions  before  the  date 
of  Constantine.  Among  the  recent  converts  from  paganism  a  crop 
of  heresies  sprang  up.  '*  When  the  sacred  choir  of  the  Apostles," 
says  Hegesippus,  (rt/«^  Euseb.,  iii,  32,)  "had  passed  away,  then  the 
combinations  of  impious  error  arose  by  the  fraud  and  delusion  of 
false  teachers."  The  schisms  of  Marcian  and  Novatian,  Valentine 
and  Montanus,  early  rent  the  Christian  community.  The  exclusive 
ecclesiasticism  of  Cyprian,  the  episcopal  assumptions  of  Victor,  aud  the 
secular  ambition  and  rapacity  of  Paul  of  Samosata,  were  portents 
of  the  spirit  which  afterward  bore  such  bitter  fruit.  That  pride  and 
luxury  had  begun  to  invade  the  simplicity  of  primitive  times,  which, 
when  the  church  basked  in  the  sunshine  of  imperial  favour,  so  com* 
pletely  withered  its  spiritual  power. 


120 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  DISUSE  AND  ABANDONMENT  OF  THE  CATACOMBS. 

From  the  period  of  the  Edict  of  Milan,  A.  D.  313,  a  new 
era  opens  in  the  history  of  the  Catacombs.  Christianity, 
emerging  from  those  gloomy  recesses  where  she  had  so 
long  hidden  in  darkness,  walked  boldly  in  the  light  of 
day.  She  laid  aside  her  lowly  garb,  put  on  the  trap- 
pings of  imperial  state,  and  at  length,  unhappily,  ex- 
changed her  primitive  simplicity  for  worldly  power  and 
splendour.  But  therein  was  her  danger.  The  shadow 
of  that  power  shed  a  upas  influence  over  the  church. 
The  unhallowed  union  between  the  bride  of  heaven 
and. a  sinful  world  gave  birth  to  corruption  and  religious 
error.  Pampered  when  subservient  to  the  policy  of  the 
Caesars,  she  soon  became  its  willing  instrument,  and 
stained  her  snowy  robes  by  complicity  with  imperial 
vice.  Christianity  became  at  length  "a  truth  grown 
false,"  and  men,  to  use  the  fine  figure  of  D'Aubign6,  for- 
saking the  precious  perfume  of  faith,  bowed  down  before 
the  empty  vessel  that  had  contained  it. 

The  influence  of  Constantine  seems  to  have  been 
fraught  with  more  of  evil  than  of  good  to  the  new  relig- 
ion that  he  espoused.  He  appears  to  have  '  iopted  the 
Christian  name  from  expediency  rather  than  from  con- 
viction, and,  stained  with  the  kindred  blood  of  wife 
and  son  and  nephew,  ill  deserves  the  title  of  Saint,  be- 
stowed in  fulsome  adulation  by  a  venal  church.  Even 
the  priests  of  the  false  gods,  aghast  with  horror  at  nis 
crimes,  exclaimed,  "  There  is  no  expiation  for  deeds 


"Sp^- 


mmm. 


Their  Disuse  and  Abandjiwunt. 


121 


like  these."  He  used  both  pagans  and  Christians,  both 
orthodox  and  heretics,  as  instruments  for  his  political 
purposes.  His  object  seems  to  have  been  rather  to  raise 
and  strengthen  a  hierarchy  of  ecclesiastical  supporters 
than  to  assist  the  cause  of  truth;  and  he  imposed  on 
the  organization  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches  that 
monarchical  and  secular  character  which  they  have 
ever  since  retained.* 

The  transfer  of  the  seat  of  empire  from  the  Tiber  to 
the  Bosphorus  left  Christianity  to  develop  itself  at  Rome 
less  trammelled  by  imperial  influence ;  and,  perhaps,  in  a 
less  corrupt  form  than  in  the  East.  After  the  edict  of 
toleration,  the  places  of  worship  which  had  been  closed 
or  destroyed  during  the  persecution  were  opened,  or 
rebuilt  with  a  magnificence  rivalling  that  of  the  ancient 
temples.  But  the  Catacombs  still  continued  invested 
with  a  deep  and  pathetic  interest,  as  the  cradle  of  the 
faith,  the  refuge  of  the  church  during  the  storm  of 


*  Zosimtts.  His  profession  of  Christianity  provoked  the  scorn  of 
the  apostate  Julian. — Ibid. 

Scott  compares  him  to  a  prodigal  who  strips  an  aged  parent  of  the 
ornaments  of  her  youth  in  order  to  decorate  a  flaunting  paramour.  But 
New  Rome  shared  the  decline  of  the  mother  city,  as  a  graft  taken 
from  an  old  tree  partakes  of  the  decay  of  the  parent  stem.  As  the 
ancient  liberties  died  out,  the  gorgeous  but  degrading  despotisms  of  the 
East  usurped  their  place.  The  emperors  assumed  the  style  and  titles 
of  gods.  The  most  unmanly  adulation  was  at  length  lavished  on  the 
slave  or  herdsman  elevated  by  capricious  fortune  to  the  throne  of  the 
world.  At  the  time  of  the  princess  Anna  «".  mnena  this  degradation 
seems  to  have  reached  its  nadir.  "Youi  x^tomity"  was  the  blas- 
phemous epithet  of  the  ephemeral  puppet  flaunting  for  a  moment  in 
the  livery  of  infamy.  "  If  I  may  speak  and  live,"  whispered  with 
bated  breath  the  titled  slave — Prospathaire,  or  Acolyte — who  stood 
nearest  the  throne,  shading  his  eyes  with  his  hands,  as  if  overpowered 
by  the  efiiilgence  of  the  imperial  countenance.  The  rude  Latin 
Crusaders  made  short  work  of  these  lofty  titles  and  this  solemn 
etiquette. 


122 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


calamity,  and  the  sepulchre  of  the  saints  and  martyrs. 
Hence  numerous  basilicas  or  oratories  were  erected 
over  or  near  the  entrances  of  the  ancient  cemeteries  in 
honour  of  the  holy  dead. 

On  the  full  recognition  of  Christianity  the  necessity 
for  subterranean  sepulture  ceased ;  hence  it  fell  gradu- 
ally into  disuse,  and  was  superseded  by  burial  in  or  near 
the  now  numerous  basilicas.  Even  the  Roman  bishops 
were  no  longer  interred  in  the  so-called  Papal  Crypt, 
but  in  churches  above  ground ;  and  this  example  was 
soon  generally  followed.  "  The  inscriptions  with  con- 
sular dates,"  says  Dr.  Northcote,  "  probably  furnish  us 
with  a  sufficiently  accurate  guide  to  the  relative  pro- 
portions of  the  two  modes  of  burial.  From  A.  D.  338 
to  A.D.  360  two  out  of  three  burials  appear  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  subterranean  portion  of  the  ceme- 
teries, while  from  A.  D.  364  to  A.  D.  369  the  proportions 
are  equal.  During  the  next  two  years  hardly  any  notices 
of  burials  above  ground  appear,  but  after  that  subter- 
ranean crypts  fell  rapidly  into  disuse.  "* 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance,  here  indicated,  that 
in  the  years  A.  D.  370  and  371  a  sudden  and  general  re- 
turn to  subterranean  sepulture  took  place.  This  change 
has  been  very  satisfactorily  explained  by  the  contem- 
porary history  of  the  Catacombs.  Great  injury  had 
already  been  inflicted  on  these  ancient  sepulchres  by 
the  practice  which  had  become  prevalent  of  erecting 
basilicas,  more  or  less  sumptuous,  over  the  tombs  of  the 
illustrious  martyrs  of  the  age  of  persecution.  \  As  the 
ecclesiastical  authorities  shrank  from  disturbing  their 


*  Roma  Sotterranea,  pp.  95,  96.  During  the  lifetime  of  Constan- 
line  subterraneous  sepultures  seem  to  have  been  generally  prevalent. 

f  These  were  called  martyria  or  memoriie.  See  Euseb.,  Vit. 
Const.,  iii,  48. 


Their  Disuse  and  Abandonment, 


123 


remains  it  became  the  custom  to  excavate  the  gronnd 
down  to  the  level  of  their  graves.  As  these  were  often 
in  the  lower  levels  of  the  Catacombs,  hundreds  of  graves 
were  sometimes  destroyed  in  these  excavations  and 
constructions.*  Damasus,  bishop  of  Rome  from  A.  D. 
358  to  A.  D.  384,  who  was  indefatigable  in  his  efforts  to 
protect  and,  where  possible,  to  restore  the  Catacombs, 
endeavoured  to  prevent  this  wholesale  destruction  of 
these  sacred  crypts.  He  explored  many  of  the  galleries, 
which,  to  preserve  inviolate  the  martyrs'  graves,  had 
been  blocked  up  with  earth  and  stones  during  the  period 
of  persecution.  He  cleared  out  f  and  enlarged  the  pas- 
sages leading  to  the  more  distinguishec'  mbs,  and  con- 
structed ample  flights  of  stairs  for  the  accommodation 
of  the  numerous  pilgrims  to  these  sacred  shrines.  He 
lined  many  of  the  chambers  with  marble  slabs,  con- 
structed shafts  for  the  admission  of  light  and  air,  and 
supported  the  crumbling  walls  and  galleries,  where 
necessary,  with  piers  and  arches  of  solid  masonry.  He 
also  composed  numerous  metrical  inscriptions  in  honour 
of  the  martyrs,  which  were  engraved  on  marble  in  a 
singularly  elegant  character.  There  are  few  of  the 
Catacombs  in  which  traces  of  his  restorations  or  adorn- 
ments are  not  to  be  found. 

The  piety  or  superstition  of  the  wealthy  converts 
to  Christianity  led  them  to  enlarge  tiie  subterranean 
chapels  and  martyr-tombs,  and  to  decorate  them  with 

*  The  effects  of  this  practice  are  apparent  at  S.  Agnese  fuori  le 
Mura,  erected  over  the  tomb  of  the  virgin  martyr,  and  at  San  Lorenzo, 
where  the  galleries  of  the  Catacomb  of  Cyriaca  have  been  exposed 
and  in  part  destroyed. 

f  In  extending  the  Catacombs  for  the  purpose  of  burial  it  was 
sometimes  found  easier  to  cut  new  galleries  at  a  higher  level,  using 
the  bed  of  earth  in  the  old  as  the  floor  of  the  new.  Sometimes  the 
new  galleries  cut  right  through  the  locttli  of  the  old. 


124 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


costly  marbles,  frescoes,  mosaics,  stucco  ornaments,  and 
vaulted  roofs.  The  contemporary  tombs  and  monu- 
ments were  also  on  a  scale  of  magnificence  before 
unknown;  and  the  inscriptions  assumed  a  florid  and 
inflated  character  far  different  from  the  simplicity  of 
the  primitive  ages.  The  architecture  and  paintings  also 
indicate,  with  the  increase  of  wealth  and  luxury,  the 
decline  and  fatal  eclipse  of  art. 

To  the  period  of  Damasus  belongs  the  description, 
by  Prudentius,  of  the  shrine  of  Hippolytus,  part  of 
which  has  been  already  quoted.*  "  That  little  chapel," 
he  continues,  "  which  contains  the  cast-off  garments 
of  his  soul,  is  bright  with  solid  silver.  Wealthy  hands 
have  put  up  glistening  tablets,  smooth  and  bright  as  a 
concave  mirror;  and,  not  content  with  overlaying  the 
entrance  with  Parian  marble,  they  have  lavished  large 
sums  of  money  on  the  ornamentation  of  the  work."  It 
was  during  the  period  of  the  labours  of  Damasus  that 
the  revived  interest  in  the  Catacombs  was  so  strikingly 
manifested  by  the  sudden  return  to  the  subterranean 
mode  of  burial,  and  that  many  of  the  tombs  and  chapels 
received  their  most  elaborate  adornment.f 

The  perversion  of  a  natural  instinct,  beautiful  and 
praiseworthy  in  itself,  became  the  root  of  much  evil 
in  after  times.     Our  hec-rts  are  irresistibly  drawn  toward 

*  Chap,  i,  p,  II.  To  the  same  period  belongs  the  description  of  the 
Catacombs  by  Jerome,  quoted  on  page  36.  Jerome  at  one  time  acted 
as  secretary  to  Damasus. 

f  St.  Ambrose,  about  this  time,  censures  the  constructing  of  costly 
sepulchres,  as  if  they  were  to  be  the  receptacle  of  the  soul  instead  of  tlie 
body. — Frustra  struunt  homines  pretiosa  sepulchra,  quasi  ea  animae, 
nee  solius  corporis,  receptacula  essent. — De  Bono  Mortis, 

Basil  urges  men  to  prepare  their  funeral  by  works  of  piety  while 
they  live.  "  For  what  need  have  you,"  he  asks,  "  of  a  sumptuous 
monument,  or  a  costly  entombing?" — Horn,  in  Divites. 


Their  Disuse  and  Abandonment. 


125 


the  place  where  lie  the  remains  of  the  dear  departed 
in  the  last  long  sleep  of  death.  Although  we  know 
that  only  the  slumbering  dust  is  there,  we  ove  to  medi- 
tate above  their  graves,  and  seem  there  to  hold  closer 
communion  with  their  spirits  than  elsewhere.  Es- 
pecially would  the  early  Christians  be  drawn  to  the 
tombs  of  their  fathers  in  the  faith,  many  of  whom  were 
also  their  fathers  in  the  flesh,  whose  saintly  patience  or 
glorious  martyrdom  had  hallowed  their  memory  for 
evermore.  They  would  naturally  be  led  to  adorn  and 
beautify  their  sepulchres,  and  in  pious  devotion  to  med- 
itate and  pray  beside  their  honoured  remains.  This 
innocent,  and  even  laudable,  practice  gradually,  and  per- 
haps inevitably,  led  to  abuses.  Th?  admiration  of  the 
martyr's  faith  and  patience  and  heroic  spirit  gradually 
intensified  into  superstitious  veneration  for  his  body, 
blood,  bones,  ashes,  clothes,  staff,  or  any  personal  relic. 
Judaism  regarded  the  touching  of  aught  connected  with 
the  dead  as  involving  a  ceremonial  pollution ;  but  Chris- 
tian ideas  invested  even  the  crumbling  dust  of  the  mar- 
tyrs with  especial  sanctity. 

The  first  clear  evidence  that  we  have  of  this  feeling 
is  in  the  case  of  Ignatius,  who  suffered  under  Trajan, 
A.  D.  107.  Perhaps  from  a  fear  that  superstitious  rev- 
erence might  be  paid  to  his  remains,  he  prayed  that  the 
wild  beasts  might  become  his  sepulchre,  so  that  nothing 
of  him  might  be  left.*  His  desire  was  only  partly  ful- 
filled, for  "the  larger  and  harder  bones  remained, 
which  were  carried  to  Antioch  and  kept  as  an  inesti- 
mable treasure  left  to  the  Church  by  the  grace  which  was 
in  the  martyr."  f  Eusebius  speaks  of  the  charred 
remains  of  Polycarp  as  "  more  precious  than  the  richest 

*  Ignat.,  Ep.  ad  Rom.,  §  iv.    Euseb.,  Hisi.  Eccles.,  iii,  36. 
\  Acts  of  Martyrdom,  §  xii. 


126 


The  Citacombs  of  Rome. 


jewels,  and  more  tried  than  gold."*  The  martyrs 
blood  was  esteemed  a  talisman  of  especial  power.  A 
sponge  saturated  therewith  was  sometimes  worn  as  a 
sacred  relic,  and  it  may  be  as  a  supernatural  amulet, 
by  their  friends  or  relatives.  Prudentius  describes  the 
spectators  of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Vincent  as  dipping 
their  clothes  in  his  blood,  that  they  might  keep  it  as  a 
sort  of  palladium  for  successive  generations : 

Crowds  haste  the  linen  vest  to  stain 
With  gore  distilled  from  martyr's  vein, 
And  thus  a  holy  safeguard  place 
At  home,  to  shield  the  future  race.f 

In  the  account  of  the  death  of  Hippolytus,  he  de- 
scribes the  gathering  of  his  mangled  limbs  with  a 
minuteness  too  revolting  for  the  poetry  even  of  martyr- 
ology- 1  With  a  refinement  of  cruelty,  the  persecutors 
of  Gaul  cast  the  remains  of  the  martyrs  of  Vienne  to 
the  dogs,  and  guarded  their  lifeless  bodies  for  days,  in 
order  to  deprive  the  Christians  of  the  melancholy  sat- 
isfaction of  paying  the  last  sad  rites  of  burial  to  any 
fragments  that  remained.  § 

The  primitive  Christians  justly  discriminated  between 
the  reverence  due  to  the  martyrs  and  the  adoration  to 
be  rendered  only  to  the  Supreme  Being.  "  We  worship 
Christ  as  the  Son  of  God,"  says  the  church  of  Smyrna, 
"  but  the  martyrs  we  deservedly  love  as  the  disciples 
and  imitators  of  Our  Lord."  |     "  We  do  not  build  tem- 

♦  Hist,  Eccles.,  iv,  15. 

f  Plerique  vestem  linteam 
Stillante  tingunt  sanguine, 
Tut        1  ut  sacrum  suis 
Domi  reservent  posteris. — Peristeph.^  v. 
\  Hie  humeros,  truncasque  manus  et  brachia,  et  ulnas, 

Et  genua,  et  crurum  fragmina  nuda  legit. — Ibid.^  iv. 
§  Euseb.,  Hist.  Eccles,,  v,  I.  \  Ibid.,  iv,  15. 


Their  Disuse  and  Abandonment 


127 


pies  to  our  martyrs  as  gods,"  says  Augustine,  "  but  only 
memorials  of  them  as  dead  men  whose  spirits  live  with 
God ;  nor  do  we  erect  altars  or  sacrifice  to  our  martyrs, 
but  to  the  only  God,  both  theirs  and  ours."*  But  the 
enthusiastic  feelings  of  the  people  at  length  failed  to 
make  this  proper  distinction,  and  many  even  of  the  the- 
ological writers  of  the  day,  not  foreseeing  the  disastrous 
consequences  to  which  the  practice  would  lead,  were 
carried  away  with  the  popular  current. 

One  form  which  this  veneration  took  was  that  of  fes- 
tivals in  honour  of  the  martyrs.  *'  By  a  noble  metaphor," 
says  Milman,t  "  the  day  of  their  death  was  considered 
that  of  their  birth  to  immortality."  J  The  church  of 
Smyrna  celebrated  the  anniversary  of  their  martyred 
bishop's  passion  "  with  joy  and  gladness  as  his  natal 
day."§  Tertullian  asserts  that  the  practice  has  the  au- 
thority of  apostolic  tradition.  |  These  festivals  were  at 
first  kept  with  religious  solemnity,  accompanied  by  the 
celebration  of  the  eucharist,  often  in  the  rock-hewn 
chambers  of  the  Catacombs,  where  a  thin  tile  separated 
the  dead  in  Christ  from  the  devout  worshippers  who 
commemorated  the  passion  of  their  common  Lord, 
During  the  ages  of  persecution  this  was  a  rite  of  deep 
and  touching  significance.  Frequently  his  partaking  of 
that  feast  was  the  recipient's  own  consecration  to  the 
martyr's  death.  But  after  the  peace  of  the  church  it 
often  degenerated  into  a  scene  of  excess  and  vulgar 
revelry,  more  like  the  pagan  banquets  for  the  dead  than 

♦  Nos  martyribus  nostris  non  templa  sicut  diis,  sed  memorias  sicut 
hominibus  mortuis,  quorum  apud  Deum  vivant  spiritus,  fabricamus ; 
nee  ibi  erigimus  altaria,  in  quibus  sacrificemus  martyribus,  sed  uui 
Deo  et  martyrum  et  nostro. — De.  Civ.  Dei,  xxii,  10. 

f  Hist,  of  Christianity,  book  iv,  c.  2. 

X  Hence  called  Natal itia^  TevidTua, 

g  Eustb.,  Hist.  EccUs.,  iv,  15.  |  De  Coron.  Mil.,  c.  u. 


128 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


a  Christian  solemnity.  Indeed,  they  were  avowedly 
employed  in  ignoble  appeal  to  the  baser  appetites,  as 
counter-attractions  to  the  pagan  feasts,  to  induce  the 
poor  to  attend  the  festivals  of  the  church.*  This 
degradation  of  an  originally  praiseworthy  practice,  and 
the  intensifying  and  abject  superstition  to  which  it  led, 
provoked  the  taunts  of  the  heathen  and  the  censure  of 
the  more  devout  and  thoughtful  Christians.  The  philo- 
sophic Julian  recoiled  from  the  adoration  of  relics  as 
from  pollution.  Another  pagan  writer  contrasts  the 
veneration  of  obscure  martyrs'  names,  hateful  to  the 
gods  and  to  men,t  with  the  refined  and  poetic  cultus  of 
Minerva  and  Jupiter.  |  Vigilantius,  the  Spanish  pres- 
byter, strongly  condemns  the  "  ashes  worshippers  and 
idolaters;"  while,  on  the  other  hand,  Jerome  n.agni- 
fies  the  sanctity  of  these  relics,  **  around  which,"  he 
says,  "  the  souls  of  the  martyrs  are  constantly  hovering 
to  hear  the  prayers  of  the  supplicant."  After  in  vain 
trying  to  restrain  their  abuses  and  excesses,  the  ecclesi- 
astical authorities  were  at  length  compelled  to  suppress 
these  festivals. 

The  reverence  paid  to  the  relics  of  the  martyrs  had  two 
remarkable  and  contrary  effects.  Having  led  in  the  first 
place  to  the  adornment  of  their  sepulchres,  it  ultimately 
caused  their  destruction  and  spoliation.  In  consequence 
of  this  feeling  it  became  an  object  of  ambition  to  share 
the  resting-place  of  those  who  had  been  so  holy  in  life 
and  so  glorious  in  death.  Hence  new  graves  were 
often  excavated  in  the  back  of  the  arcosolia^  cutting 

*  Diesque  festos,  post  eos,  quos  relinquebant,  alienos  in  honorein 
sanctorum  martyrum  vel  non  simili  sacrikgio,  quamvis  simili  luxu 
celebrantur. — Augustin.,  Epis.  xxix.  See  also  Boldetti,  Osservazioni 
sopra  i  cimiteri  dei  SS.  Martiri,  p.  46. 

f  Diisque  hominibusque  odiosa  nomina. — Aug.,  Epis.,  xvi.    J  Ibtd, 


L-. 


Their  Distise  and  Abandonment. 


129 


th'-oiigh  the  beautiful  frescoes  with  which  they  were 
adorned,  ai  d  mutilating  or  destroying  the  paintings.* 
The  cubicula  were  also  defaced,  their  symmetry  injured, 
and  their  construction  endangered  by  similar  imprudent 
excavations. 

Numerous  inscriptions  inform  us  that  many  persons 
secured  this  privilege  during  their  lives,  as  the  follow- 
ing examples  :  in  crvpta  noba  retro  sanctos  emervm 
SE  VIVAS  halera  et  sarina  (j/V) — "  In  the  new  crypt  be- 
hind the  saints :  Valeria  and  Sabina  bought  it  for  them- 
selves while  living  •  ENOAilE  HATAEINA  KEITAT 
MAKAPQ  EN  XQPi2  — "  Here  lies  Paulina  in  the  place 
of  the  blessed."  Another  inscription  of  the  period  of 
Damasus  tells  of  one  who  was  buried  "  within  the 
thresholds  of  the  saints,  a  thing  which  many  desire  and 
few  obtain."!  Sometimes  the  name  of  the  saint  or 
martyr  is  mentioned,  as  in  one  which  records  the  pur- 
chase of  a  grave,  "  at  the  tomb  of  Hippolytus,  above 
the  arcosolium^''  X  and  another  at  that  of  Cornelius.§  So 
also  the  tomb  of  Cecilia  was  separated  from  that  of  one 
of  the  primitive  bishops  by  scarcely  an  inch  of  rock. 
Great  injury  was  thus  done  to  the  Catacombs  by  the 
indiscreet  devotion  of  those  who  observed  this  practice. 
Many  pilgrims  to  the  graves  of  the  martyrs,  deriving, 
they  thought,  a  spiritual  benefit  from  proximity  to  their 
sacred  dust,  took  up  their  abode  in  little  cells  beside 
their  graves  while  alive,  and  shared  their  sepulchres  in 
death.  In  answer  to  the  inquiry  of  his  friend  Paulinus 
of  Nola,  whether  it  was  a  profit  to  the  soul  that  the  body 


*  See  Figs.  I2  and  76. 

f "  Intra    limina    sanctorum,    quod    multi    cupiunt    et    rari    ac- 
cipiunt." 
X  "  At  Ippolytu  super  arcosoliu,"  (jiV.) 

§  "  Ad  Santum  Cornelium,"     See  also  the  epitaph  on  p.  132. 

9 


t ' 


»30 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


shrmlil  be  buried  near  the  shrine  of  some  saint,*  Au- 
gustine wrote  a  special  treatise  f  in  justification  of  the 
practice ;  although  ho7v  the  martyrs  help  men,  he  con- 
fesses, is  a  question  beyond  his  understanding.  We 
have  already  seen  the  very  strong  opinion  entertained 
cm  this  subject  by  Jerome,  the  contemporary  of  Augus- 
tine. More  in  accordance  with  reason  and  scripture  is 
the  sentiment  contained  in  the  epitaph  of  the  arch- 
deacon Sabinus,  lately  found  at  San  Lorenzo : 

NIL   IVVAT   IMMO   CRAVAT  TVMVI.IS   IIAKRKRK   I'lORVM 

SANCTORVM    MKRITIS  OlMIMA   VITA   I'ROI'E   EST 
CORrORE   NON   01»VS   EST   ANIMA   TENDAMVS   AO   II.l.OS 
QVAE   BENE   SALVA    I'OTEST  CORroRE   ESSE   SAI.VS.^ 

It  nothing  helps,  but  rather  hinders,  to  stick  close  to  the  tombs  of 
the  saints  ;  a  good  life  is  the  best  approach  to  their  merits.  Not  with 
the  body  but  with  the  soul  must  we  draw  nigh  to  them  ;  when  that  is 
well  saved  it  may  prove  the  salvation  of  the  body  also. 

Even  Damasas,  who,  if  any  ought,  might  claim  sepul- 
ture with  the  sainted  dead,  shrank  from  disturbing  their 
remains,  and  was  buried  in  a  tomb  above  the  Catacomb 
of  Callixtus.     Of  thr  subterranean  crypt  he  says  : 

HIC    FATEOR    DAMASVS  VOLVI   MEA   COx^DRRE  MEMHRA 
SED    riMVI  SANCTOS    CINERES  VEXARE   PIORVM. 
Here  I,  Damasus,  confess  I  wished  to  lay  my  limbs,  but  I  feared 
to  vex  the  holy  ashes  of  the  saints. 

The  desire  for  communion  with  the  holy  dead  con- 
tinued throughout  successive  generations.  Multitudes 
of  pilgrims  still  visited  the  shrines  of  the  martyrs,  and, 
after  the  wont  of  travellers,  left  traces  of  their  presence 
in  the  numerous  graffiti  which  are  written  on  the  walls. 
Some  of  these  are  names  of  classical  form,  as  Leo,  Fe- 

*  "  Apud  sancti  alicujus  memoriam." 

f  De  Curd  pro  Morinis  Gere/iM,  written  about  A.  D.  ^11. 

%  BuUetthw,  1864,  33. 


X 


Their  Disuse  and  Abandonment 


131 


lix,  Maximus,  Theophilus;  others,  written  in  less  acces- 
sible places,  are  of  later  date  and  of  foreign  character, 
Spanish,  British,  or  German,  as  Ildebrand,  Ethelred, 
Lupo,  Bonizo,  Joannes.  The  names  are  frequently 
accompanied  with  the  letters  Ph.,  or  Presb.^  the  indica- 
tion of  the  ecclesiastical  grade  of  the  writer. 

Many  of  the  loftiest  dignitaries  in  church  and  state, 
popes  and  prelates,  princes  and  nobles,  kings  and 
queens,  and  even  some  illustrious  wearers  of  the  impe- 
rial purple,  continued  to  be  brought,  often  from  afar, 
throughout  the  period  of  the  Middle  Ages,  to  lie  in 
death  as  near  as  possible  to  the  hallowed  dust  of  the 
early  martyrs  and  confessors  of  the  faith.  Among  them 
were  some  stained  with  blood,  who  hoped  to  expiate 
their  crimes  by  their  religious  austerities,  and  to  enter 
paradise  through  the  intercession  of  the  saints  near 
whose  remains  their  bones  were  laid.  Several  petty  kings 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Heptarchy,  some  expelled  by  their 
subjects  or  rivals,  others  flying  from  the  post  of  duty, 
muttered  their  prayers  and  counted  their  beads  in  the 
crypts  of  the  Catacombs,  and  were  buried  in  their  vicin- 
ity. The  following  are  a  few  of  the  more  illustrious, 
taken  from  the  list  of  the  Abbe  Gaume  :  *  Popes  Leo  I., 
Gregory  I.,  II.,  and  III.,  Leo  XL  ;  the  Emperor  Hono- 
rius  and  Mary  his  wife,  Valentinian  and  Otho  11. ; 
Cedwalia,  king  of  the  West-Saxons  ;  Conrad,  king  of  the 
Me/cians ;  Offa  and  Ina,  Saxon  kings,  with  Eldiburga, 
wife  of  the  latter ;  the  Empress  Agnes,  Queen  Charlotte 
of  Cyprus,  and  the  Countess  Matilda,  who  so  enriched 
the  papal  see  by  her  donations.  These  were  buried, 
not  in  the  Catacombs,  but  in  the  basilicas  erected  over 

♦  Les  Trots  Homes,  torn,  ir,  p.  39.  Aringhi  gives  a  similar  list  in 
his  chapter,  De  imperatoribus  ac  regibus,  qui  apud  Vaticanum  sepuU 
tune  traditi  sunt. — Roma  Suit^rranra,  lib.  ii,  c.  9. 


132 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\  > 


1 
» 


\ 


them,  which  were  considered  to  share  their  sanctity. 
Thus,  as  St.  Chrysostom  remarks,  referring  to  the  tradi- 
tion concerning  the  sepulchres  of  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul,  kings  laid  aside  their  crowns  at  the  tombs  of  the 
fisherman  and  the  tentmaker.* 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  and  the  beginning 
of  the  fifth  century  the  management  of  the  Catacombs 
seems  to  have  been  no  longer  in  the  hands  of  the  eccle- 
siastical authorities,  but  under  the  control  of  the  fos- 
sors,t  with  whom  the  bargain  for  interment  was  made 
by  the  friends  of  the  deceased.  Numerous  inscriptions 
occur  in  which  this  bargain  is  recorded,  together  with 
the  names  of  the  buyers  and  sellers,  and  sometimes 
those  of  the  witnesses  to  the  contract,  and  even  the  price 
that  was  paid,  as  in  the  following  examples :  costat 

NOS  EMISSE  lANVARIVM  ET  BRITIAM  LOCVM  ANTE 
DOMNA  EMERITA  A  FOSSORIBVS  BVRDONE  ET  MICINMO  ET 

Mvsco  R  \TiONE  AVRi  SOLIDVM  VN  SEMES  (j/V) — "  It  is  un- 
questionable that  we,  Januarius  and  Britia,  bought  a 
place  in  front  of  [the  tomb  of]  Lady  Emerita  %  from  the 
fossors  Burdo,  Micinus,  and  Muscus,  for  the  con- 
sideration of  one  solidus  and  a  half  of  gold  *' — (about 

$7.)  EMPTVM  LOCVM  A  BARTIMISTVM  VISOMVM  HOC  EST 
ET  PRETIVM  DATVM  A  FOSSORE  HILARO  ID  EST  FOLN 
.    .    .    PRESENTIA     SEVERI      FOSS.     ET      LAVRENT "  The 

place  bought  by  Bartimistus,  that  is,  a  bisomus ;  and 
the  price  paid  to  the  fossor  Hilarus,  1400  folles,  (about 
SS  ^5>)  ^"^  ^^  presence  of  the  fossors  Severus  and  Lau- 
rence." The  fossors  also  probably  prepared  and  engraved 
the  funeral  slabs,  as  seems  to  be  implied  in  the  follow- 

*  Chrys.,  Quod  Christus  sit  Deus.     See  legend,  p.  186. 
f  From  fodere,  fossum,  to  dig. 

%  Saint  Emerita  suflFered  martyrdom  during  the  Valerian  perse- 
cution. 


Their  Disuse  and  Abandonment, 


133 


ing :  Locv  marmarori  {sic)  qvodrisomvm — "  A  quad- 
ruple tomb  [bought]  of  the  stonecutter."* 

In  the  following  illustration  from  the  Catacomb  of 
Callixtus  the  fossor  is  seen  standing  in  a  cubiculum  lined 
with  graves,  and  surrounded  by  the  implements  of  his 
labour.    On  his  shoulder  is  the  mattock  with  which  he 


Fiff.  23.— Diosrenea  the  Fossur. 


dug  the  friable  tufa,  and  in  his  hand  the  lamp  with  the 
spike  by  which  it  was  fastened  to  the  rock  while  he 
worked.  At  his  feet  lie  the  compasses  for  marking  out 
the  loculi^  and  over  his  head  we  read  the  simple  epitaph, 

♦  Jerome  strongly  censures  the  making  merchandise  of  the  resting- 
places  of  the  (lead — Qui  sepulchra  venditant,  et  non  coguntur  ut  ac- 
cepiant  pretium,  sed  a  nolentibus  etiam  extorquent. — Quicst.  Ihb.  in 
Gen.  xxiii. 


i 


t34 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


"  Diogenes  the  fossor,  buried  in  peace  on  the  eighth 

before  the  calends  of  October." 

The  accompanying  engraving  from  Aringhi  shows  the 

fossor  actively  engaged  in  excavating  the  vaulted  gal- 
lery by  the  light  of  the 
lamp  suspended  near  him. 
The  marks  made  by  the 
mattocks,  in  the  manner 
here  shown,  may  be  seen 
in  the  walls  of  the  passages 
as  plainly  as  though  the 
fossor  had  but  just  ceased 
his  labours. 

After  a  brief  return  to 
subterranean  burial  in  the 
time  of  Damasus  the  prac- 
tice fell  rapidly  into  dis- 
use, and  after  A.  D.  410 
scarcely  a  single  certain 
example  can  be  found.  In 
that  fatal  year  the  blast  of 

the  Gothic  trumpet,  start- 

Fiflr.  24.— The  Fossor  at  Work.    ,-       .1  r      -j   •  Ui.* 

ling  the  ear  of  midnight  * 

in  the  streets  of  Rome,  proclaimed  its  capture  by  the 
hosts  of  the  stern  Alaric.  Amid  the  social  and  civil 
commotions  that  accompanied  the  breaking  up  of  the 
empire,  there  was  neither  time  nor  means  to  adorn  the 
sepulchres  of  the  saints,  and  the  Catacombs  fell  into  in- 
evitable neglect  and  decay.  Of  this  year  not  a  single 
sepulchral  inscription  remains,  a  striking  indication  of 
the  anarchy  and  confusion  prevailing,  when  even  the 
customary  honours  were  not  paid  to  the  dead. 

*  "  Nocte  Moab  capta  est,  nocte   cecidit  mums  ejus  ! "  exclaims 
Jerome. — Ad  Principiam. 


■I. 


Their  Disuse  and  AbaadoumenL 


135 


Like  a  mighty  deluge  sweeping  away  and  overwhelm- 
ing the  art  and  civilization  of  the  South,  came  the  inva- 
sion of  the  barbarous  hordes  of  the  North ;  yet  like  a 
deluge  fertilizing  and  enriching  the  soil,  and  leaving 
germs  of  future  fruitfulness  behind.  Having  conquered 
the  world  with  its  arms  and  corrupted  it  with  its  vices, 
the  mighty  fabric  of  the  Roman  empire  lost  internal 
strength  and  cohesion,  and  began  to  crumble  to  pieces. 
The  secret  causes  of  its  dissolution  had  long  been  stealth- 
ily at  work,  and  its  fall  at  last  was  utter  and  complete. 
Thrice  in  the  space  of  three  years  (A.  D.  408,  409,  410) 
Rome  was  besieged  by  the  hosts  of  Alaric,  and,  in  vain 
purchasing  respite  by  a  costly  ransom,  she  was  at  last 
given  up  as  a  prey  to  the  bold,  eager,  and  greedy  sav- 
agery of  the  North.  The  pillage  of  the  world,  accu- 
mulated during  a  thousand  years  of  conquest,  left, 
however,  little  pretext  for  violating  the  resting-places 
of  the  dead.  .  As  the  rude  soldiery  gloated  with  hungry 
eyes  on  the  lavish  gold  and  silver,  the  precious  jewels 
and  sumptuous  vestments  on  every  side,  they  recked 
little  for  mere  works  of  art,  and  many  a  porphyry  vase 
and  priceless  statue  was  wantonly  shivered  by  barbarian 
battle-axe.  Nevertheless,  the  conqueror  respected  the 
basilicas  of  the  apostles  and  the  sacred  vessels  of  their 
shrines,  declaring  that  he  made  not  war  upon  the 
saints.* 

But  succeeding  conquerors  were  less  scrupulous  or 
more  rapacious.  Five  times  in  the  course  of  the  fifth 
century,  and  as  often  in  the  sixth,  the  Eternal  City, 
"  that  was  almighty  named,"  was  besieged  by  her  im- 
placable foes.  The  churches  were  plundered  of  the 
massy  plate  and  other  treasures,  and  even  the  dim  crypts 


♦  Gibbon,  iii,  283.    Am.  Ed. 


136 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I  ^ 


I 


i 


of  the  Catacombs  echoed  the  clanging  tread  of  the 
armed  soldiery  as  with  sacrilegious  hands  they  stripped 
the  shrines  of  the  saints  of  their  costly  adorning,  and 
rifled  the  graves  of  the  dead  in  search  for  hidden 
treasure.*  Each  successive  invasion  to  which  Rome 
was  exposed  renewed  these  scenes  of  desecration  and 
robbery.  The  Huns,  the  Goths,  the  Lombards,  and, 
later,  the  Normans  and  Saracens,  were  rivals  in  spoliation 
and  destruction. 

During  the  intervals  of  peace  the  Roman  pontiffs  en- 
deavoured to  restore  the  Catacombs  and  re-adorn  the 
martyr  shrines,  which  were  still  the  objects  of  pious 
veneration.  They  were  also  used  during  the  barbarian 
invasions,  as  during  the  pagan  persecutions,  as  places 
of  refuge.  Boniface  I.,  having  been  for  some  time 
concealed  in  the  Catacomb  of  Felicitas,  afterwards  elab- 
orately ornamented  it.  Symmachus  and  Vigilius  were 
also  especially  diligent  in  their  care  for  the  Catacombs. 
The  latter  restored  many  of  the  Damasine  epitaphs 
which  had  been  destroyed.f    We  read  also  of  popes  of 

*  The  following  lines  by  Pope  Vigilius,  A.  D.  537,  describe  this 
event : 

Dum  peritnra  Getae  posuissent  castra  sub  urbem, 

Movenint  Sanctis  bella  nefanda  prius, 
Totaque  sacril^o  Yerterunt  coide  sepulcra, 
Martyribus  quondam  rite  sacrata  piis. 

'*  Whilst  the  Goths  had  placed  their  camp,  soon  to  perish,  before  the 
city,  they  first  waged  unhallowed  '^/ar  against  the  saints,  and  with 
sacrilegious  mind  destroyed  whole  sepulchres  once  solemnly  conse- 
crated to  the  pious  martyrs." 

During  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  cemeteries  were  opened  within 
the  walls  in  consequence  of  the  peril  of  venturing  beyond  the  gates. 

\  DIRVTA  VIGILIVS  NAM   POSTHAEC  PAPA  GEMI3CENS 

HOSTIBVS  EXPVLSis  OMNE  NOVAVIT  opvs. — Inscr.  in  Laterati. 
"  Pope  Vigilius,  afterwards  lamenting  the  demolished  monuments, 
renewed  the  entire  work  after  the  expulsion  of  the  enemy." 


lieir  Disttse  and  Abandonment 


137 


the  sixth  and  two  following  centuries  restoring  the  ceme- 
teries and  making  provision  for  the  celebration  of  the 
martyrs'  festivals  at  their  subterranean  shrines.  The 
sculpture  and  frescoes  of  the  period  of  course  exhibited 
the  depraved  taste  and  debased  execi  tion  of  the  times. 

A  new  element  of  destruction  came  now  into  play; 
This  was  the  wholesale  translation  of  the  bodies  of  the 
saints  from  the  Catacombs  to  the  churches  of  the  city, 
in  order  to  sav:;  theui  from  profanation  by  Astolphus 
and  his  sacrilegio  Lombards.  These  pious  robbers  ran- 
s  icked  and  systeiaatically  despoiled  the  ancient  ceme- 
teries, and  carried  off  the  relics  of  the  martyrs.  Pope 
Stephen  III.  thereupon  published  a  letter  from  St.  Peter 
himself  menacing  with  eternal  damnation  the  violators 
of  these  hallowed  tombs.  These  spiritual  terrors,  how- 
ever, were  found  insufficient  to  protect  the  sacred  relics. 
The  work  of  tran'^lation  was  resumed,  and  Pope  Paul  I. 
records  the  removal  in  A.  D.  761  of  the  bodies  of  over 
a  hundred  "  martyrs,  confessors,  and  virgins  of  Christ, 
with  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  into  the  city  of  Rome." 
He  complains  also  of  the  neglect  into  which  the  Cata- 
combs had  fallen.  Their  deeper  recesses  were  given 
up  to  owls  and  bats,  and  nearer  the  entrance  the  prowl- 
ing fox  or  jackal  found  a  covert.  There,  too,  the  Cam- 
pagnian  shepherds  frequently  folded  their  flocks,  and 
"converted  the  sacred  places  into  stables  and  dung- 
hills." They  became,  also,  the  lurking  places  of  thieves 
and  debtors,  outlaws  and  bandits,  who  took  refuge  in 
their  tangled  labyrinths. 

We  have  observed  the  practice  in  the  fourth  century 
of  building  churches  over  the  martyrs'  tombs.  The 
natural  reverence  for  their  remains  soon  passed  into  a 
superstitious  veneration  and  belief  in  their  miraculous 
efficacy.     Even  such  acute  minds  as  those  of  Origen, 


138 


The  Catacombs  of  \ome. 


I 


ii 


I. 


Chrysostom,  and  Ambrose  seem  infected  with  this  su- 
perstition.* It  soon  became  considered  essential  to  the 
consecration  of  a  church  that  it  should  be  hallowed  by 
some  holy  relics.  These  were  placed  not  only  on  the 
altar,  but  in  the  sides  of  portals,  to  be  kissed  by  the 
devout  on  entering.f  The  furnishing  of  these  relics 
became  a  gainful  trade.  St.  Augustine  complains  of 
certain  vagabond  monks  who  went  about  selling  relics 
of  the  martyrs,  if  indeed  martyrs  they  were. J  In  con- 
sequence of  this  practice  a  Theodosian  law  of  the  year 
A.  D.  386  forbids  the  removal  of  any  body  that  was 
buried,  or  the  tearing  asunder  or  sale  of  the  remains  of 
a  martyr.§  In  consequence  of  the  number  of  spurious 
relics,  the  fourth  Council  of  Carthage,  in  A.  D.  401, 
prohibited  the  use  of  any  whose  genuineness  could  not 
be  authenticated.  |  Martin  of  Tours  narrates  how  he 
discovered,  by  summoning  the  ghost  of  a  so-called  mar- 
tyr, that  the  revered  relics  were  only  those  of  a  common 
thief.^    The   Empress  Constantina  wrote  to  Gregory 

*  These  Fathers  quoted  such  passages  as  2  Kings  xiii,  21 ;  Eccles. 
xlviii,  13,  14  ;  xlix,  10-15  ;  Acts  v,  15,  and  xix,  ii,  in  proof  of  the 
efficacy  of  relics. 

f  Hence  in  the  celebration  of  the  mass  the  priest  kisses  the  altar 
and  invokes  pardon  "  by  the  relics  of  the  saints  that  are  there." — Sec 
Missal.  Optatus  tells  of  a  lady  who  used  to  kiss  the  relics  of  he  knew 
not  what  martyr,  if  martyr  it  were,  before  communion. — Ante  spirit- 
ualem  cibum  et  potum,  os  nescio  cujus  martyris,  si  tamen  martyris, 
libare  dicebatur. — Oper.,  lib.  i. 

\  Membra  martyrum,  si  tamen  martyrum,  venditant. — Aug.,  de 
Oper.  Monach. 

§  Humatum  corpus  nemo  ad  alium  locum  transferal ;  nemo  mar- 
tyrem  distrahat,  nemo  mercetur. — Cod.  Theod.,  De  Sepulchris  Vtola- 
tis,  leg.  7. 

I  Omnino  nulla  memoria  martyrum  probabiliter  acceptetur  nisi  aut 
ibi  corpus,  aut  aliquae  certe  reliquae  sint. — Cone.  Carth.,  v,  Can.  14. 

^  Sulpitii  Severi,  Vita  Martini,  cap.  viii.  Julian  recoiled  from 
relic  worship  as  from  the  stench  of  dead  men's  bones.     He  compared 


Their  Disuse  and  Abandonment. 


»39 


de 


the  Great,  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  for  the  head 
of  St.  Paul,  in  order  to  consecrate  a  new  church.  He 
replied  that  he  could  not  divide  the  bodies  of  the  saints, 
and  declared  that,  the  danger  of  invading  their  tombs 
was  sometimes  even  fatal.*  But  this  pious  reverence 
gave  place  to  a  more  mercenary  spirit,  a.id  the  trade  in 
relics  became  a  traffic  of  infamy  and  disgrace.  Not 
only  were  the  bodies  of  the  so-called  martyrs  torn  asun- 
der and  their  limbs  sold  to  diverse  and  distant  places, 
but  with  sacrilegious  fraud  the  relics  of  favourite  saints 
were  multiplied  till  as  many  different  cities  claimed  to 
have  their  only  true  and  genuine  heads,  arms,  or  bodies, 
as  contended  for  the  honour  of  being  the  birth-piace  of 
Homer.f 

These  relics  were  endowed  in  popular  apprehension 
with  most  miraculous  powers.  They  emitted  a  delight- 
ful fragrance  that  ravished  the  senses.  A  fleshless  skull 
declared  the  name  and  martyrdom  of  its  owner.  The 
bones  of  St.  Lawrence  moved  in  their  grave  to  m^ke 
room  for  those  of  another  saint.  The  liquefaction  of  a 
martyr's  blood  may  still  be  witnessed  by  the  faithful  on 
the  anniversary  of  St.  Januarius  at  Naples.  J  If  we 
may  credit  numerous  traditions,  these  wonder-working 

the  churches  to  whited  sepulchres  full  of  rottenness  and  of  all  un- 
cleanness. 

*  Greg.  Max.,  Epis.  iv. 

f  At  the  time  of  the  Reformation  the  reputed  fragments  of  the  true 
cross,  it  is  said,  would  have  freighted  a  lai^e  ship.  The  relics  of  the 
saints  were  hawked  about  the  country  from  house  to  house  by  ped- 
lers  who  farmed  their  sale,  paying  a  percentage  to  the  church  or 
abbey  to  which  they  belonged.     D'Aubign6's  Hist.  Ref.,  i.  c.  3. 

\  On  one  occasion  the  blood  refused  to  liquefy,  on  account,  said 
the  priests,  of  the  malign  influence  of  the  French.  The  French  gen- 
eral sent  word  that  unless  the  miracle  took  place  within  an  hour  his 
cannon  should  blow  the  church  about  their  ears.  The  blood  liquefied 
immediately. 


HO 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


1 


human  remains  healed  the  sick,*  raised  the  dead,  and, 
more  difficult  still,  converted  heretics  to  the  true  faith. 
Nay,  the  mere  contact  with  the  brandea  or  handkerchief 
from  the  martyr's  tomb,  the  filings  of  his  chains,  or  the 
oil  from  the  lamp  before  his  shrine,  communicated  spir> 
itual  as  well  as  physical  benefit.  These  sacred  relics 
possessed  a  talismanic  power  to  protect  from  evil.  They 
were  borne  into  battle  to  avert  the  hurtling  death  and 
to  blunt  the  edge  of  the  sword.  They  were  affixed  to 
towers  as  a  safeguard  against  the  thunderbolt.  \  They 
were  inlaid  in  the  crowns  and  regalia  of  kings,  \  and 
worn  in  rings  and  amulets  as  prophylactics  against  poi- 
son or  disease,  and  they  lent  an  awful  sanctity  to  the 
oath  taken  upon  the  altar.  §       .  j/ 

*  The  affidavit  of  its  subject  attests  the  miraculous  cure,  probably 
of  hysteria  or  hypochondria,  recently  wrought  by  a  relic  from  the 
Catacombs  at  the  Hotel  Dieu  in  Montreal,  Canada. 

f  A  nail  of  the  true  cross,  says  Gregory  of  Tours,  thrown  into  the 
Adriatic  by  Queen  Radegunda,  mad^  it  thenceforth  one  of  the  safest 
seas  to  navigate  instead  of  one  of  the  stormiest. — De  Gloria  Mar- 
tyrum.     Of  another,  Constantine  made  a  bit  for  his  horse. 

X  The  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy  the  Roman  Congregation  of 
Relics  has  declared  to  be  a  sacred  talisman,  being  made  of  a  nail  of 
the  Crucifixion,  although  the  first  authentic  mention  of  it  occurs  in  the 
midnight  of  the  dark  ages,  A.  D.  888.  From  the  time  of  Charles  V. 
no  sovereign  ventured  to  wear  this  sacred  crown  till  Napoleon,  seek- 
ing to  consecrate  his  usurped  authority,  with  his  own  hand  placed  it 
on  his  head  at  Milan,  A.  D.  1805,  with  the  vaunting  words,  "  God 
hath  given  it  me  ;  let  him  take  heed  who  touches  it." — Dieu  me  Fa 
donnee ;  gare  a  qui  la  touche.  It  was  carried  off  from  the  cathedral 
of  Monza  by  the  Austrians  in  1859. 

§  On  marble  tablets  in  the  Church  of  St.  Prassede,  in  Rome,  is  an 
enumeration  of  its  precious  treasures,  among  which  are  a  tooth  of  St. 
Pe^er  and  one  of  St.  Paul,  part  of  the  chemise  of  the  Virgin  Mary — 
de  camisia  beata  Maria  Virginis,  part  of  Christ's  girdle — de  cingulo 
D.  N.  yesu  Christi,  part  of  Moses*  rod,  some  of  the  earth  on  which 
Christ  prayed,  also  of  the  reed  and  sponge,  three  spines  of  the  crown 
of  thorns,  part  of  the  towel  with  which  he  washed  his  disciples'  feet. 


1 


tm 


Their  Disuse  and  Abandonment. 


141 


The  slender  historical  evidence  on  which  idolatrous 
homage  is  paid  to  these  relics  is  seen  in  the  case  of  the 

part  of  the  swaddling  clothes — -pannis — ii.  which  he  was  wrapped  at 
his  nativity,  and  part  of  the    seamless   robe — de   veste  inconsutih. 
The  whole  of  this  robe  was  formerly  exhibited  at  Treves,  where  the 
deluded  votaries  of  this  Christian  idolatry  invoked  its  intercession  in 
the  formula,  "  Holy  Coat,  pray  for  us ! "     In  the  year  1854,  in  the  of- 
ficial "  Gazette  of  Vienna,"  it  was  announced  that  the  tooth  of  St. 
Peter,  given  by  Pius  IX.  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  would  be  for 
four  days  exposed  to  the  sight  and  homage  of  the  faithful.     Before 
the  Reformation  these  relics  were  still  more  puerile  and  absurd,  and 
calculated  to  provoke  a  smile  or  sneer  as  the  humourist  or  the  cynic  pre- 
dominated in  the  observer.     At  the  Church  of  All  Saints  at  Wittem- 
berg,  says  D'Aubigne,  were  shown  a  frj  gment  of  Noah's  ark,  some  soot 
from  the  furnace  of  the  Three  Hebrew  Children,  and  nineteen  thousand 
other  relics.     At  SchafThausen  was  exhibited  the  breath  of  St.  Joseph 
that  Nicodemus  had  received  in  his  glove.     At  Wurtembei^  might 
be  seen  a  feather  plucked  from  the  wing  of  the  archangel  Michael. 
{Hist.    He/.,   i,   c.   3.)      Heywood,  in  his  interlude  of  "  The  Four 
P's,"  one  of  whom  was  a  Pardoner,  among  his  "  relykes,"  enumerates 
"  Of  All-hallowes  (that  is,  All-Saints)  the  blessed  jaw-bone,"  the 
great  toe  of  the  Trinity,  and  others  in  which  is  a  still  stranger  mix- 
ture of  absurdity  and  blasphemy.     (See  "  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of 
the  Reformation,"  by  the  present  writer,  in  Evangel.  Repos.,  London, 
Eng.,  Feb.,  1865.)     Augustine  says  the  dung-heap  on  which  Job  sat 
was  still  visited  in  his  day !    In  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  is  exhibited  a 
coin  said  to  be  one  of  the  thirty  pieces  of  gold  (?)  for  which  Judas 
betrayed  his  Master.     They  were  made,  according  to  the  legend,  by 
Terah,  Abraham's  father,  who  was  a  famous  artificer  under  King 
Nimrod.     They  were  the  price  of  the  field  of  Ephron,  and  also  the 
coins  with  which  Joseph  was  bought,  and  with  which  his  brethren 
purchased  com  in  Egypt.     Despite  the  anachronism,  Moses  is  said  to 
have  given  them  as  a  dowry  to  the  Queen  of  SLeba,*who  presented 
them  to  Solomon.     Nebuchadnezzar,  it  is  alleged,  carried  them  away, 
and  the  Magi  brou^^ht  them  back  as  an  offering  to  Christ.     Finally 
Mary  cast  them  into  the  treasury  of  the  Temple,  whence  the  priests 
gave  them  to  Judas  for  his  perfidy.     (See  Bingham,  xiv,  4,  §  18.) 

The  stone  upon  which  tlie  sovereigns  of  England  are  crowned  is, 
according  to  a  venerable  tradition,  that  which  formed  Jacob's  pillow 
at  Hethel. 

In  the  cathedral  of  Genoa  is  deposited  the  wonderful  cup  known 


143 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\\ 


so-called  **  Saint  Theodosia  of  Amiens."  Her  epitaph, 
found  in  a  Catacomb  near  the  Salarian  Way,  reads  as 
follows : 

AVRELIAB  THEVDOSIAB 

BENIGNISSIMAE   ET 

INCOMPARAHILI   FEMINAE 

AVREUVS   OITATVS 

CONIVGI   INNOCENTISSIMAB 

NATAMBIANA. 

Aurelius  Optatus  to  his  most  innocent  wife  Aurelia  Thcudosia,  a 
most  gracious  and  incomparable  woman,  by  nation  an  Ambian. 

The  Congregation  of  Relics  decided  that  Theudosia 
was  both  a  saint  and  martyr,  and  a  native  of  Amiens. 
Her  remains  were  solemnly  conveyed  to  that  city,  and 
on  the  1 2th  of  October,  1833,  they  were  received  with 
the  utmost  magnificence  by  no  less  than  twenty-eight 
mitred  prelates  and  fifteen  hundred  other  ecclesiastics, 
placed  in  a  gorgeous  shrine,  and  honoured  as  in  ancient 
times  they  honoured  a  tutelar  goddess.  Cardinal  Wise- 
man preached  on  the  occasion,  and  compared  the  re- 
moval of  her  remains  to  her  native  place  to  that  of  the 
patriarch  Joseph's  bones  from  Egypt  to  Canaan ;  and 
Bishop  iSalinis  commended  the  homage  of  her  relics 

in  histoiy  as  the  Holy  Grail,  which  in  times  of  yore  was  the  object  of 
so  many  knightly  quests,  and  more  recently  the  subject  of  so  many 
stately  epics.  It  was  a  vessel  composed  of  a  single  emerald  origin- 
ally, (so  runs  the  legend,)  the  marvellous  cup  wherewith  Joseph  di- 
vined— the  cup  put  into  the  mouth  of  Benjamin's  sack.  It  was  also 
the  mystical  cup  of  wisdom  of  Solomon,  and,  at  length,  that  out  of 
which  Christ  partook  of  the  Last  Supper.  Hence  its  name,  San 
Greal,  that  is,  sanguis  realis,  the  real  blood.  Joseph  of  Arimathea 
brought  it  to  Britain,  but  it  mysteriously  disappeared  in  consequence 
of  the  laxness  of  the  times.  How  it  came  to  Genoa  does  not  clearly  ap- 
pear. From  the  time  of  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach,  a  minnesinger  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  down  to  Tennyson  and  Lowell,  this  has  been 
a  favourite  subject  of  poetry.  See  an  article  on  the  legend,  by  the 
writer,  in  Harper's  Weekly,  Feb.  5,  1870. 


Thrir  lAsitst  and  Abamionmcnt, 


143 


"  because    the   martyrs    are,   after    Jesus    Christ,   also 
Christs  to  open  heaven  to  mankind."* 

By  this  practice  of  the  translation  of  relics  Rome 
broke  the  chain  of  positive  evidence,  and  destroyed  the 
tender  and  pathetic  associations  conm  cted  with  the  re- 
mains of  the  sainted  dead.  The  martyr's  tomb,  in  its 
original  position  and  undisturbed,  is  an  object  of  in- 
tensest  interest ;  but  removed  to  some  distant  church 
or  abbey  and  redecorated  with  florid  adornment  or 
theatrical  finery,  his  alleged  relics  provoke  only  skep- 
ticism or  contempt.  Indeed,  so  little  attempt  at  proba- 
bility is  there  in  the  names  given  to  these  relics  that  a 
Romanist  writer,  the  Abbe  Barbier  de  Montault,  con- 
fesses that  the  greater  part  of  the  bodies  found  in 
the  Catacombs  wanting  proper    names  have  received, 

*  As  recently  as  the  year  1870  the  alleged  relics  of  a  newly  discov- 
ered St.  Aureliana,  a  virgin  martyr  of  the  third  century,  who  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  a  member  of  the  family  of  the  Roman  emperor 
Aurelian,  were  transfen-ed,  with  many  religious  ceremonies,  from  the 
Catacombs  .to  Cincinnati,  in  the  United  States.  In  the  Roman 
Catholic  cathedral  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  is  a  slab  from  the  Catacombs 
with  the  inscription,  DPPEREGRINVS  XII  KALMARTIAS 
Q«VIXIT«M«  —  "Peregrinus,  buried  the  twelfth  day  before  the 
calends  of  March,  who  lived  .  .  months."  He  was,  therefore,  an  in- 
fant ;  y;it  he  is  claimed  to  be  a  martyr,  and  a  wax  figure  of  an  adult 
man  with  gaping  wounds  exhibits  the  alleged  mode  of  his  death.  At 
its  feet  is  placed  what  is  said  to  be  a  phial  of  the  martyr's  blood.  In  the 
same  church  are  also  what  is  described  as  "  a  large  piece  of  the  true 
crc'js  on  which  trickled  the  sacred  blood  of  Christ,"  and  "  particles 
of  the  bones  of  Saints  Peter  and  Paul  «tnd  of  many  other  holy  martyrs." 

Maitland  quotes  an  account  from  Mabillon  of  the  reverence  paid  to 
a  certain  St.  Viar,  founded  on  the  discovery  of  a  stone  bearing  the 
letters  S-VIAR.  This  was,  however,  found  to  be  a  fragment  of  the 
inscription  FHAEFECTV ^-WIAK  VM—" Curator  of  the  Ways." 
There  is  absolutely  no  warrant  whatever  for  such  assumptions  as  these. 
There  is  not  in  the  whole  range  of  Christian  epigraphy  a  single  con- 
temporary inscription  of  unquestioned  genuineness  which  can  lead  to 
the  identification  of  the  remains,  name,  and  date  of  a  primitive  martyr. 


i 


I 


I 


? 


^*u^ 


144 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


when  they  were  exposed  to  public  veneration,  names  a1 
haphazard,  which  have  only  a  vague  or  general  signifi- 
cation,  as  Felix,  Fortunatus,-  Victor.* 

We  return  from  this  digression  to  the  mediaeval  his- 
tory of  the  Catacombs.  The  efforts  of  Stephen  III., 
Adrian  I.,  and  Leo  III.,  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  cen- 
turies, to  restore  their  ancient  honour  and  magnifi- 
cence, were  unavailing.  The  tombs  of  the  saints  were 
continually  being  abandoned  and  destroyed.  The 
translation  of  the  sacred  relics  was  renewed  with  in- 
creased energy.  Pope  Paschal  I.  was  the  most  zealous 
agent  in  the  prosecution  of  this  work.  An  inscrip- 
tion in  t'.c  church  of  St.  Prassede,  which  he  built  for 
their  reception,  records  the  translation  thither  of  2,300 
bodies  in  a  single  day,  July  20,  A.  D.  817.  Successive 
popes  continued  to  remove  cartloads  of  relics  from  the 
Catacombs  in  order  to  enhance  the  dignity  or  sanctity 
of  the  churches  which  they  built  or  restored,  and  as  an 
evidence  of  their  own  pious  zeal.  At  this  period,  prob- 
ably, the  multitude  of  relics  were  borne  to  the  Pantheon, 
since  known  as  St.  Maria  ad  Martyres — 

Shrine  of  all  saints  and  temple  of  nil  gods 
From  Jove  to  Jesus.f 

*  Le  plupart  des  corps  saints  trouves  dans  les  Catacombes  man- 
quant  de  noms  propre,  ont  re<;u  lorsqu'on  les  exposes  a  la  veneration 
publique,  des  noms  de  circonstance,  qui  n'ont  qu'une  signification 
vague ;  comme  Felix,  Fortunatus,  Victor. — Aunee  LiUirgique  d 
Rome,  p.  151. 

f  Childe  Harold.  Boniface  IV.  is  said  to  have  previously  trans- 
ferred twenty-eight  cartloads  of  relics  from  the  Catacombs  to  this 
place.  He  thus,  as  we  read  in  barbaric  verse  on  his  epitaph  in  the 
crypt  of  St.  Peter's,  purified  the  shrine  of  all  the  demons,  and  dedi- 
cated  it  to  all  the  saints : 

" — Templa  .  . 
Delubra  cunctorum  fuerant  quae  dcmonorum  {sic) 
Hie  expurgavit  Sanctis  cunctisque  dicavit." 


Their  Disuse  aud  Abandonment. 


'45 


These  perpetual  spoliations  of  the  Christian  ceme- 
teries led  to  the  rapid  destruction  of  many  of  their  gal- 
leries and  chambers,  and  to  their  final  abandonment 
like  a  worked-out  mine — a  mine,  too,  which  had  been 
the  source  of  greater  riches  to  the  church  than  treas- 
ures of  silver  or  gold.  In  the  removal  of  the  relics  of 
the  martyrs  the  principal  motive  for  the  protc^^an  or 
adornment  of  the  Catacombs  was  taken  away,  and  dur- 
ing the  gathering  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages  they 
speedily  passed  out  of  the  knowledge  o{  mankind.  In 
a  few  of  those  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  some  church 
or  monastery  a  subterranean  chapel  was  still  kept  open, 
and  an  occasional  mass  was  celebrated  on  the  presumed 
anniversary  of  the  martyr  whose  name  was  associated, 
often  erroneously,  therewith ;  or  some  zealous  and  ad- 
venturous pilgrim  might  even  penetrate  their  obscure 
recesses.  But  a  blight  had  fallen  on  the  once  beautiful 
Campagna.  Desolation,  pestilence,  and  death  brooded 
over  the  deserted  plain.  Through  the  natural  dilap- 
idations of  time,  and  the  spoliations  of  Saracens,  Nor- 
mans, and  Greeks,  who  successively  invaded  Italy  and 
wasted  the  country  with  fire  and  sword,  the  basilicas 
and  oratories  of  the  Byzantine  period  crumbled  to  de- 
cay or  were  destroyed,  and  the  monasteries  were  de- 
serted ;  their  cowled  and  sandaled  occupants,  long  the 
sole  custodians  of  the  Catacombs,  taking  refuge  within 
the  city  walls.  The  rains  of  a  thousand  autumns  and 
the  frosts  of  as  many  winters  caused  the  crumbling  of 
the  luminariy  the  falling  in  of  the  roofs,  and  ruin  of  the 
galleries.  The  knowledge  of  the  past  was  lost  in  the 
gathering  gloom  of  the  dark  ages,  so  that  in  an  enumer- 
ation of  the  Roman  Catacombs  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury only  three  are  mentioned,  and  these  were  connected 

10 


I4t6 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


with  some  church.     In  the  fifteenth  century  but  one, 
that  of  Sebastian,  was  known. 

Yet  there  is  evidence  that  some  of  the  galleries  were 
accessible,  and  were  used  for  dark  and  sinister  purposes, 
n  keeping  with  their  gloomy  and  desolate  character. 
Durin-T  the  lawless  period  from  the  eleventh  to  the  fif- 
teenth century,  when  faction  and  civil  war  and  anarchy 
laid  waste  the  country,  and  even  the  classic  mausolea 
above  ground  were  converted  into  armed  fortresses, 
these  gloomy  vaults  became  the  rendezvous  of  insur- 
gents and  conspirators,  who  feared  no  betrayal  of  their 
bloody  seciets  by  the  silent  sleepers  in  their  narrow 
cells.  In  their  dark  recesses  were  concocted  those 
"  treasons,  stratagems,  and  spoils  "  that  desolated  the 
land.  Frequently  armed  bands  of  the  retainers  of  hos- 
tile houses — the  Montagues  and  Capulets  of  the  day — 
met  in  these  subterranean  battle-grounds,  and  the  war- 
cry  of  Guelph  and  Ghibelline,  of  Colonna  and  Orsini, 
rang  through  the  hollow  corridors,  disturbing  the  quiet 
tf  M^t,  gra'  es.  Bloodshed  and  cruelty  often  desecrated 
the  spot  sacred  to  religion  and  the  ashes  of  the  sainted 
dead.  Petrarch  'hus  describes  these  unhallowed  uses 
of  the  Catacombs : 

They  are  become  like  robbers'  caves, 
So  that  only  the  good  are  denied  entrance  ; 
And  among  altars  and  saintly  statues 
Every  cruel  enterprise  is  planned.* 

During  the  period  of  the  "  Babylonish  Captivity,"  when 
the  Papal  See  was  removed  from  the  banks  of  the  Tiber 

*  Quasi  spelunca  di  ladron  son  fatti, 

Tal  ch'  4  buon  solamente  uscio  si  chiude  ; 
E  tra  le  altari,  e  tra  statue  ignude, 
Ogni  impressa  crudel  par  che  si  tratti. 

Canzone  xi. 


Their  Disuse  and  Abandonment. 


147 


to  those  of  the  Rhone — from  the  protection  of  the  for- 
tress of  St.  Angelo  to  the  castled  heights  of  Avignon— 
the  decay  of  every  thing  pertaining  to  the  church  in 
Italy  was  precipitated.  The  city  of  Rome,  which  de- 
pended for  its  prosperity  entirely  upon  its  ecclesiastical 
pomps  and  pageants,  became  impoverished  and  almost 
deserted.  The  Campagna  changed  to  a  wilderness,  and 
the  entrances  to  the  Catacombs  were  choked  with  rub- 
bish or  overgrown  with  tangled  thickets  and  gigantic 
weeds.  Many  of  these  entrances  were  also  walled  up  by 
the  civic  authorities  to  prevent  their  becoming  the  re- 
sort of  robbers,  and  for  the  safety  of  the  inhabitants. 

During  the  short  and  tumultuous  career  of  that  strange 
reformer,  Colonna  di  Rienzi,  (1347-1354,)  some  of  the 
hidden  crypts  are  mentioned  as  the  scene  of  the  plots 
and  counterplots  of  that  troublous  time ;  and,  like  the  sew- 
ers and  Catacombs  of  Paris  during  the  Revolution,  and 
the  cloacae  of  Rome  in  time  of  proscription  and  civil  war, 
they  became  places  of  refuge  and  concealment.  On  the 
eve  of  his  massacre  Rienzi  was  urged  to  seek  safety  in 
those  ancient  sanctuaries  of  the  persecuted  church,  but 
he  replied,  as  Nero  is  said  to  have  done  thirteen  centu- 
ries before,  that  he  would  not  bury  himself  alive.* 

With  the  exception  of  these  rare  allusions  there  is 
little  mention  of  the  Catacombs  in  the  chronicles  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  they  became  in  course  of  time  virtually 
unknown.  They  were  not,  however,  entirely  unvisited. 
The  cemetery  of  Sebastian  was  never  quite  forgotten, 
but  was  always  open    to  pilgrims ;    and   even   in  the 


*  This  ancient  use  of  the  Catacombs  has  not  been  forgotten  in 
modern  times.  That  intrepid  pontiff,  Pius  VII.,  rather  than  yield  to 
the  demands  of  the  first  Napoleon,  threatened  to  retire  to  those 
gloomy  recesses  which  had  sheltered  so  many  of  the  primitive 
bishops. 


143 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\ 


darkest  period  there  seem  to  have  been  some  who,  in- 
spired by  devotion  or  curiosity,  penetrated  the  most 
accessible  crypts,  and  left  inscribed  upon  the  walls  the 
date  of  their  visit.  Thus,  in  one  place  we  find  a  record 
of  a  bishop  of  Pisa  and  his  companions  who  visited  the 
Catacombs  early  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Another 
graffitOy  with  the  names  of  three  persons  and  the  date 
A.  D.  1321,  reads  thus  :  "  Gather  together,  O  Christians, 
in  these  caverns,  to  read  the  holy  books,  to  sing  hymns 
in  honour  of  the  saints  and  martyrs  who,  having  died  in 
the  Lord,  lie  buried  here ;  to  sing  psalms  for  those  who 
are  now  dying  in  the  faith.  There  is  light  in  this  dark- 
ness.    There  is  music  in  these  tombs."* 

On  one  of  the  graves  were  found  a  small  silver-gilt 
coronet,  with  the  date  A.  D.  1340,  and  a  palm  leaf 
worked  in  silver.  In  another  crypt  are  written  six 
names — German,  in  Latinized  form — with  a  cross  after 
each,  and  beneath,  the  date  A.  D.  1397.  f  They  were 
probably  a  company  of  German  priests  on  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  Eternal  City  and  its  sacred  shrines.  In  two  or 
three  cubicula  in  the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus  are  graffiti 
recording  the  visits  of  certain  Franciscan  friars  in  the 
fifteenth  century.  Brother  Lawrence  of  Sicily,  over 
date  January  17,  145 1,  records  that  with  twenty  others 
he  had  come  to  visit  the  holy  place. J  In  1467  some 
Scottish  pilgrims,§  and  two  years  after  an  abbot  of 
St.  Sebastian,  with  a  large  party, ||  left  records  of  their 
visits  to  this  Catacomb.  The  names  of  Pomponio  Leto 
and  other  liter-ati  of  the  Roman  Academy  have  also 
been  found  in  several  of  the  crypts.     These  men,  how- 

♦  MacFarlane,  p.  36.  \  Ibid.,  49,  50. 

X  "  Fuit  hie  ad  visitandum  sanctum  locum  istum." 
§  "  Quidem  Scoti  hie  fuerunt." 
I  "  Cum  magna  cometivi." 


Their  Disuse  and  Ahattdonment, 


149 


ever,  although  the  avowed  lovers  of  antiquity,*  were 
enthusiastic  only  in  the  pursuit  of  heathen  learning,  and 
justly  merited  the  reproach  of  being  more  pagan  than 
Christian.  With  the  exception  of  such  infrequent  and 
transient  visits,  it  would  appear  that  this  priceless  treas- 
ury of  Christian  archaeology  and  legacy  of  the  primitive 
church  to  the  present  age  was  completely  forgotten  till 
it  was  revealed  to  the  eyes  of  a  wondering  world  by  the 
explorations  of  the  sixteenth  and  following  century. 

*  "  Unanimes  antiquitatis  amatores." 


ISO 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


CHAPTER   IV. 


! 


f    I 


THE     REDISCOVERY     AND     EXPLORATION     OF     THE 

CATAvOMBS. 

It  would  seem  that  the  rediscovery  of  the  Catacombs 
was  providentially  reserved  to  a  period  especially  adapted 
for  their  profitable  study.  In  the  fullness  of  time,  when 
the  great  Reformation  was  emancipating  the  minds  of 
men  from  the  trammels  of  superstition,  and  long-vener- 
ated beliefs  and  usages  were  being  compared  with  the 
still  older  primitive  faith  and  practice,  this  marvellous 
testimony  of  the  purity,  simplicity,  and  piety  of  the 
early  church  was  unveiled.  These  Christian  evidences, 
which  have  no  parallel  sa"e  in  the  sacred  scriptures 
themselves,  after  having  been  sealed  up  during  the  dark 
ages  of  ignorance  and  superstition,  were  brought  to  light 
in  a  period  of  intellectual  quickening  and  revived  clas- 
sical learning,  which  stimulated  th^  minds  of  men  to 
the  study  of  the  past  and  to  the  rescue  from  oblivion  of 
the  priceless  remains  of  antiquity.  The  newly-invented 
printing-press  and  the  engraver's  burin  preserved  the 
record  of  much  that  has  since  perished ;  and  Roman 
archaeologists,  seeking  in  the  monuments  of  antiquity 
for  corroboration  of  papal  doctrine  and  practice, 
brought  to  light  the  disproof  of  their  existence  in  the 
early  ages  of  the  church.  A  rejection  of  this  testimony 
would  invalidate  all  monumental  evidence,  whether  sa- 
cred or  secular,  concerning  the  past. 

The  rediscovery  of  this  subterranean  city  took  place 


Their  Rediscovery  and  Exploration.  1 5 1 

in  the  year  1578.  Some  labourers  digging  pozzolana  in 
a  vineyard  on  the  Salarian  Way  came  suddenly  upon  an 
ancient  cemetery,*  with  its  paintings,  inscriptions,  sar- 
cophagi, and  graves.  The  event  produced  a  profound 
sensation  in  Rome.  The  city  was  amazed,  says  Baro- 
nius,  who  himself  examined  and  described  the  newly- 
discovered  Catacomb,  at  finding  beneath  her  suburbs 
long-concealed  Christian  colonies.  \  These  ancient 
shrines  became  again  favourite  places  of  devotion.  Here, 
among  others,  St.  Charles  Borromeo  and  St.  Philip  Neri 
spent  whole  nights  in  prayer. 

The  earliest  systematic  explorers  of  the  Catacombs 
were  Alfonso  Ciacconio,  a  Spanish  priest^  and  Philip  de 
Winghe  and  Jean  I'Heureux,  J  two  Flemish  laymen. 
The  voluminous  MSS.  and  drawings  of  the  two  former, 
however,  were  never  published,  and  they  lie  buried  in 
those  vast  cemeteries  of  literature,  the  libraries  of  Rome, 
Naples,  Brussels,  and  Paris.  The  valuable  MS.  of 
I'Heureux,  the  result  of  twenty  years'  labour,  although 
ready  for  publication,  and  even  licensed  for  printing,  in 
1605,  remained  unprinted  for  two  centuries  and  a  half, 
when  it  was  given  to  the  public  by  Padre  Garrucci  under 
the  appropriate  title  of  Hagioglypta.\  Such  a  length- 
ened periov^  between  licensing  and  publication  is  prob- 
ably unparalleled  in  literary  history. 


♦  The  Catacomb  of  St.  Priscilla. 

f  Ipsamet  urbs  obstupuit,  cum  abditas  in  !:uis  suburbiis  se  novit 
habere  civitatis  Christianorum  colonias. — Ann.  Eccl.,  ann.  130.  It  U 
singular  that  in  the  very  year  of  their  rediscovery  Onophrius  Pavin- 
ius,  an  Augustinian  friar,  published  an  account  of  the  Christian 
cemeteries  entirely  from  the  ancient  documents  of  the  church.  Only 
three  of  them  were  then  accessible,  those  of  Sebastian,  Lawrence,  and 
Valentine. 

\  Grecised  into  Joannes  Macarius. 

g  Paris,  1856. 


152 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


To  Antonio  Bosio,  a  native*  of  Malta  and  an  advocate 
by  profession,  belongs  the  honour  of  first  unveiling  to 
the  astonished  gaze  of  Europe  the  wonders  of  this  vast 
city  of  the  dead.  He  has  well  been  called  the  Colum- 
bus of  this  subterranean  world.  Inspired  and  sustained 
by  a  lofty  enthusiasm,  he  spent  six  and  thirty  years 
groping  among  those  gloomy  corridors,  deciphering  the 
half-effaced  inscriptions,  and  making  drawings  of  the 
remains  of  early  Christian  art.  So  habituated  did  he 
become  to  this  troglodytic  existence  that  the  Cim- 
merian gloom  of  the  Catacombs  was  more  grateful 
to  his  eyes  than  the  light  of  day,  which  dazzled  and 
almost  blinded  him.  His  labours  were  prodigious,  and 
often  both  severe  and  perilous.  He  had  frequently 
to  force  a  passage  with  his  own  hands  through  the  ac- 
cumulated rubbish  of  centuries,  and  was  constantly  in 
danger,  in  the  zeal  of  exploration,  of  being  lost  in  the 
windings  of  the  galleries,  from  which  danger  he  had 
some  narrow  escapes.  In  his  great  work  he  describes 
himself  as  rushing  along  with  breathless  haste,  the  de- 
sire with  which  he  burned  adding  wings  to  his  weary  feet. 
Again  he  is  creeping  serpent-wise  through  the  low  and 
crumbling  passages,  consoling  himself  for  the  difficulty 
and  discomfort  by  the  thought  that  this  lowly  attitude  be- 
fitted the  humble  and  reverent  spirit  in  which  a  place  con- 
secrated by  such  memories  ought  to  be  approached.  But 
he  was  rewarded  for  all  his  toil  by  the  discovery  of  "  pic- 
tures bright  with  the  colours  of  yesterday,  and  characters 
still  sharp  and  angular  from  the  primeval  graving  tool." 

The  elder  D'Israeli  has  cited  Bosio  as  an  illustrious 
example  of  the  enthusiasm  of  genius.  "  Taking  with 
him  a  hermit's  meal  for  the  week,"  he  remarks,  "  this 
new  Pliny  often  descended  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth 
by  lamp-light,  clearing  away  the  sand  and  ruins  till 


Their  Rediscovery  and  Exploration,  1 5  3 

some  tomb  broke  forth  or  some  inscription  became 
legible,  tracing  the  mouldering  sculpture  and  catching 
the  fading  picture.  Thrown  back  into  the  primitive 
ages  of  Christianity  amidst  the  local  impressions,  the 
historian  of  the  Christian  Catacombs  collected  the  me- 
morials of  an  age  and  of  a  race  which  were  hidden  be- 
neath the  earth."* 

The  literary  industry  of  this  pioneer  explorer  was 
immense.  He  carefully  examined  all  the  Latin,  Greek, 
and  Oriental  Fathers ;  all  the  ecclesiastical  records, 
canons,  and  decrees  of  councils  ;  the  lives  of  the  saints, 
the  acts  of  the  martyrs — everything,  in  fact,  whirh  rould 
illustrate  the  history  of  the  Catacombs  and  of  the  earl/ 
church.  The  result  of  these  labours  is  seen  in  the  bulky 
MS.  volumes,  of  many  thousand  pages,  written  with  his 
own  hand,  which  are  still  extant  in  the  Oratorian  Li- 
brary at  Rome.  He  was  not  permitted  to  see  the  pub- 
lication of  his  great  work,  in  which  was  disclosed  to  the 
world  the  wonderful  terra  incognita  lying  so  long  hidden 
beneath  the  busy  life  of  the  Eternal  City,  but  died  while 
writing  the  last  chapter.  It  was  too  valuable  a  contri- 
bution to  Christian  archaeology,  however,  to  remain  un- 
published, and  it  was  given  to  the  world,  under  the  ap- 
propriate title  of  "  Subterranean  Rome,"  f  in  the  year 
1632,  or  five  years  after  its  author's  death. 

This  book  contains  an  admirable  topographical  ac- 
count of  each  cemetery  which  he  had  explored,  taking 
in  order  the  great  consular  roads  leading  from  the  city. 
Bosio's  attempted  identification  of  the  cemeteries  and 

*  Essay  on  the  Literary  Character.     Eng.  ed.,  p.  144. 

f  Roma  Sotteranea,  opera  postuma  di  Antonio  Bosio  eomposta 
disposta  ed  accresciuta  da  Giovanni  di  Severano,  Sacerdote  delta  Con- 
gregazione  delt  Oratorio.     Roma,  1632. 

MacFarlane  and  Kip  are  in  enor  as  to  the  period  of  Bosio's  labours, 
antedating  them  about  thirty  years. 


154 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\ 


' 


principal  tombs  and  shrines  described  in  the  ancient 
ecclesiastical  records  is  not  always  sufficiently  accurate. 
He  is  rather  uncritical  and  confused  in  his  arrangement, 
although  honest  and,  in  matters  of  personal  observation, 
exact.  His  work  is  of  great  value  as  giving  an  account 
of  many  crypts  and  monuments,  and  copies  of  many 
paintings  which  have  perished  through  the  decay  or 
vandalism  of  the  last  two  hundred  years,  or  whose  posi- 
tion has  been  forgotten.  Among  these  is  the  Jewish 
Cemetery  before  mentioned,  of  which  no  evidence  is 
extant  save  Bosio's  description.  His  name,  written  in 
his  own  peculiarly  bold  styie,  is  met  with  in  many  of  the 
newly  opened  galleries  of  the  Catacombs,  showing  that  he 
had  previously  explored  those  parts  since  filled  with 
earth. 

Many  objects  of  priceless  value  have  been  lost  since 
Bosio's  day  by  the  desultory  and  unsystematic  excava- 
tions of  private  and  independent  explorers.  These 
were  conducted,  not  upon  a  system  of  enlightened 
archaeological  research,  but  upon  mere  caprice;  and 
were  guided  too  often  by  a  superstitious  zeal  for  the 
identification  and  translation  of  the  relics  of  the  saints, 
or  by  the  more  sordid  motive  of  trafficking  in  their  re- 
mains, or  of  pillaging  the  gold  and  silver  with  which 
some  of  the  more  illustrious  shrines  were  still  adorned. 
In  this  quest  many  paintings,  sculptures,  and  inscriptions 
were  destroyed  or  defaced  of  which  no  record  has  been 
preserved.  After  the  year  1688  the  excavations  were 
pursued  under  pontifical  supervision,  though  often  ne- 
glected through  indifference  or  embarrassed  by  want  of 
funds. 

In  165 1  a  Latin  translation  of  Bosio's  great  work* 

*  /^onta  Subierranea  novissima  po:t  Ant.  Bosium  et  Joan.  Seve- 

ranuin.     Romse,  1651.     Two  vols,  fui.     It  is  said  that  there  are  only 


■«««■ 


Their  Rediscovery  and  Exploration.  1 55 

was  published  by  Padre  Aringhi,  a  learned  Oratorian 
priest,  who  added  numerous  important  discoveries  of  his 
own.  This  book  has  been  largely  consulted  in  the 
preparation  of  these  pages,  collated,  of  course,  with 
more  recent  and  more  accurate  explorers. 

The  Catacombs  were  now  frequently  visited  by  trav- 
ellers, who  have  left  a  record  of  their  impressions  in 
their  published  works.  Among  these  were  two  distin- 
guished Englishmen,  John  Evelyn  and  Bishop  Burnet. 
The  sturdy  Protestantism  of  the  latter,  rejecting  the 
unwarranted  inferences  drawn  by  the  Roman  archaeolo- 
gists from  this  testimony  of  the  primitive  ages,  was  be- 
trayed into  an  unjust  skepticism  as  to  the  character  of 
that  testimony.  He  does  not  scruple  to  affirm  that 
"  those  burying  places  that  are  graced  with  the  pompous 
title  of  Catacombs  are  no  other  than  the  puticoli  men- 
tioned by  Festus  Pompeius,  where  the  meanest  sort  of 
the  Roman  slaves  were  laid,"  and  that  they  did  not 
come  into  the  possession  of  the  Christians  till  the  fourth 
or  fifth  century.*  A  more  careful  or  more  candid  ex- 
amination of  those  early  evidences  of  Christianity  would 
have  shown  him  the  error  of  this  statement,  in  which 
he  has  been  followed  by  Misson,  a  French  Protestant, 
and  by  some  other  writers. 

In  1 68 1  Bertoli  published  an  interesting  work  on  the 
sepulchral  lamps  of  the  Catacombs  f  with  numerous  il- 
lustrations ;  but  a  more  valuable  contribution  to  the 
literature  of  this  subject  was  a  collection  of  Christian 


two  copies  of  this  work  in  America.  Aringhi's  version,  being  in 
Latin,  is  better  known  out  of  Italy  than  the  Italian  treatises  of  Bosio, 
Boldetti,  or  Bottari. 

*  "  Letters  from  Italy  in  1685  and  1686."     Rotterdam.    Pp.  209. 

f  Li  antichi  lucerni  sepolcrali  figurante  raccolte  dale  cave  sotter- 
raiiea  e  grotte  di  Roma.     Roma,  1 68 1. 


156 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


t 


epitaphs  *  by  Raph  \  Fabretti,  for  many  years  custodian 
of  these  sacred  cry\  .;,  who  prevented  the  wholesale  de- 
struction of  the  inscriptions  by  their  careless  removal. 
The  learned  Benedictine,  Mabillon,  personally  examined 
the  evidences  of  the  Catacombs,  and  wrote  a  treatise 
concerning  the  reverence  of  the  unknown  saints.f  This 
led  to  the  publication,  under  the  patronage  of  Clem- 
ent XI.,  of  a  theological  and  apologetic,  rather  than 
scientific,  treatise  on  the  cemeteries  of  the  holy  martyrs 
and  early  Christians  of  Rome,t  by  Marc  Antonio  Bol- 
detti,  the  successor,  for  thirty  years,  of  Fabretti,  as  cus- 
iode  of  the  Catacombs.  But  in  his  case,  as  in  that  of 
several  other  Roman  archaeologists,  theological  zeal  was 
allied  with  antiquarian  enthusiasm,  and  sometimes  im- 
paired or  destroyed  the  value  of  his  researches. 

Gruter's  vast  collection  of  ancient  inscriptions,§  pub- 
lished early  in  the  century,  and  more  especially  that 
of  Muratori,  ||  were  valuable  contributions  to  Chris- 
tian epigraphy.  The  learned  Jesuit,  Marangoni,  pre- 
pared the  material  of  a  systematic  work  on  the  topo 
graphical  principle  of  Bosio,  when  the  labour  of  nearly  a 
score  of  years  was  destroyed  by  fire.  "  It  seems,"  says 
De  Rossi,  recording  the  event,  "  that  the  literary  history 
of  the  Catacombs  is  but  an  Iliad  of  disaster  and  irrep- 
arable losses." 

The  next  name  of  distinction  that  we  meet  in  connec- 
tion with  this  subject  is  that  of  Bottari,  equally  versed 
in  profane  and  sacred  antiquities.     His  great  work  on 

*  Inscriptionum  antiqttarum  qua  in  adibus patemis asservantur^ 
etc.    Romse,  1702. 

f  De  Cultu  Sanctorum  Ignotorum, 

\  Osservazioni  sopra  i  c'  ,eteri  del  SS,  Martiri  edantichi  cristiani 
di  Roma.     Roma,  1720. 

§  Insciiptiones  Antiques.     Amstelodami,  1707. 

\N\tvu5  Thesaurus  Veterum  Inset  iptionwn.     Mediolani,  1739. 


Their  Rediscovery  and  Exploration. 


15; 


the  sculpture  and  paintings  of  the  Catacombs  *  was  is- 
sued from  the  Vatican  press,  under  the  patronage  of 
Clement  XII.,  during  the  years  1 737-1754.  Other  ar- 
chaeologists, among  whom  we  may  enumerate  Buonar- 
rotti,  Mamachi,t  Marini,  Lupi,  Zaccaria,  J  Danzetta,§ 
Olivieri,  Borgia,  and  others,  illustrated  the  subject  in  vari- 
ous works  during  the  eighteenth  century.  The  establish- 
ment of  the  Christian  Museum  in  the  Vatican  by  Bene- 
dict XIV.  greatly  facilitated  the  study  of  these  antiqui- 
ties. The  taste  for  archaeological  researr  i,  however, 
even  among  ecclesiastics,  was  principally  confined  to  the 
remains  of  pagan  antiquity  ;  and  amid  the  many  mu- 
seums of  Rome  only  one  was  devoted  to  the  Christian 
monuments  of  the  primitive  ages,  of  which  such  vast 
treasures  lay  buried  in  the  earth. 

During  the  present  century  important  contributions 
have  been  made  to  the  literature  of  the  Catacombs  by 
D'Agincourt,!   RostelM  Raoul-Rochette,**  the  Abb6s 

♦  Sculture  e  Pitture  Sacre  estratte  dai  Cimeteri  di  Roma.     Roma. 

f  His  Originum  et  Antiquitatum  CAris/lanorum,  Rom  A,  1749-51, 
treats  especially  on  the  sarcophagi  of  the  Catacombs. 

I  This  celebrated  Jesuit  projected  a  work  "  On  the  Use  of  Ancient 
Christian  Inscriptions  in  Theology."  See  Migne,  Cursus  Computus 
Tfuolog.t  vol.  V,  pp.  309,  etc. 

§  Danzetta  continued  Zaccaria's  plan.  His  work,  which  he  called 
Theologia  Lapidaria,  left  unfinished,  was  undertaken  by  Geatano 
Marini,  who  spent  many  years  collecting  materials  to  embrace  the 
first  ten  centuries.  He  was  interrupted  by  the  French  Revolution, 
and  his  thirty-one  volumes  of  MS.  in  the  Vatican  are  an  unfinished 
monument  of  his  learning  and  industry. 

I  In  LHistoire  de  L'Art  par  Us  Monumens.  Six  vols.  fol.  Paris. 
D'Agincourt  came  to  Rome  intending  to  spend  six  months  in  the 
study  of  this  subject,  but  its  fascination  so  grew  upon  him  that  it  occu- 
pied the  remaining  fifty  years  of  his  life. 

1"  In  Bunsen's  Beschreibung  der  Stadt  Rom.     Stuttgard,    1830. 

♦*  Mimoire  surUs  antiquites  ChritUnnes  des  Catacombes.  {Mem.  di 
FAcad.  des  Inscr.^  XIII.)     See  also  TabUau  des  Catacombes. 


r 


158 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\ 


I         |! 


Ciaume  *  and  Gerbet,f  Bishop  Muntcr,J  Cardinal  Mai,§ 
and  especially  Padres  Marchi  ||  and  Garrucci. 

Cardinal  Wiseman,  in  his  beautiful  tale  of  Fabiola,1[^ 
attempts  to  rehabilitate  the  primitive  ages  in  the  garb 
of  modern  Romanism.  He  brings  together  from  widely 
different  periods  the  legends  and  traditions,  often  based 
on  very  scanty  evidence,  which  are  most  favourable  to 
the  claims  of  u'tramontanism,  and  thus  completely  de- 
stroys the  historic  value  of  the  work,  rendering  it  in 
essence,  as  it  is  in  form,  a  mere  romance. 

The  most  magnificent  contribution  to  the  literature 
of  the  Catacombs,  at  least  in  point  of  artistic  excellence 
and  costliness,  is  the  superb  work  of  M.  Perret,**  in  six 
huge  folio  volumes,  with  some  five  hundred  coloured 
drawings,  two  thirds  of  which  were  never  before  copied, 
and  as  many  facsimile  inscriptions.  It  was  prepared 
under  the  direction  of  the  French  Academy  of  Inscrip- 
tions, and  by  a  vote  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  the 
French  Republic  of  185 1  a  grant  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  francs  was  given  to  defray  the  cost.    No 

♦  In  Les  Trois  Homes. 

^  Esquisse  de  Rome  Chrttienttt. 

X  Sinnbilder  und  Kunstvorstellungender  Alten  Christen.    Altona. 

§  Veterum  Scrip  tor um  Nova  Collectio.     Roma,  1831. 

I  Monumenti  delle  Arti  Cristiane  Primitive  nella  Metropoli  del 
Oistianesimo.  Roma,  1844.  The  political  troubles  of  the  year 
1848  prevented  its  completion.  The  theological  zeal  of  this  writer, 
however,  has  in  many  cases  biassed  his  judgment.  "  In  every  page 
of  his  work,"  says  a  critic  in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  (January,  1859, 
Am.  ed.,  ccxxi,  p.  48,)  "  an  exuberant  desire  to  find  evidence  in  sup- 
port of  the  later  Romish  doctrine  among  these  records  of  the  primi- 
tive church  predominates  over  every  other  consideration." 

^  London,  1857. 

*♦  Les  Catacombes  de  Rome,  par  Louis  Perret.  Six  vols.,  fol.  Paris, 
1852-57.  This  book  costs  in  the  United  States  $600.  Only  three 
copies  are  known  to  be  in  America.  One  of  these  is  a  gift  from  the 
late  emperor  of  the  French  to  the  parliamentary  library  of  Canada. 


\      II 


Their  Rediscovery  and  Exploration.  1 59 

expense  was  spared  in  its  production.  An  able  corps  of 
artists  and  architects  were  employed  for  several  years 
in  the  undertaking.  The  galleries  and  cubicula  are 
represented  in  elaborate  drawings,  plans,  and  sections, 
and  many  of  the  frescoes  are  copied  full  size.  In  these 
latter,  however,  the  artists  have  injudiciously  endeav- 
oured to  reproduce  the  original  force,  colour,  and  expres- 
sion, instead  of  giving  facsimiles  of  the  faded,  and  often 
half-obliterated,  paintings.  Many  of  the  pictures  have, 
therefore,  a  pre-Raphaelite  beauty,  which  destroys  their 
value  as  accurate  representations  of  the  art  of  the  Cat- 
acombs. It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  letter-press  which 
accompanies  these  plates  is  not  more  worthy  of  the  gen- 
eral magnificence  of  thii  splendid  work.  "  It  is  strung 
together,"  says  the  writer  already  quoted,*  "  without 
discrimination  or  critical  research,  and  conveys  a  very 
inaccurate  notion  of  the  results  which  scientific  inquiry, 
as  opposed  to  mere  ecclesiastical  tradition,  has  now 
reached."  We  have  rarely  ventured  to  make  a  state- 
ment on  its  ajthority  unless  corroborated  by  more 
authentic  testimony,  but  many  of  its  accurate  draw- 
ings of  subterranean  architecture  enhance  the  value 
of  these  pages. 

All  previous  explorers,  however,  are  left  far  behind 
by  the  invaluable  labours  of  the  Cavaliere  De  Rossi,  the 
present  custode  of  the  Catacombs,  and  head  of  the  Ro 
man  archaeological  commission.  His  profound  knowl- 
edge of  Christian  antiquities,  his  unchallenged  candour 
and  honesty  of  statement,  his  patience  and  ingenuity 
in  exploration,  his  scientific  method,  accurate  observa- 

♦  Edinburgh  Review,  January,  1859,  p.  48.  De  Rossi  speaks  with 
tenderness  of  this  superb  editien — la  grandiza  edizione — which,  in 
spite  of  its  defects — mal  grado  i  xuoi  difetti — is  a  valuable  contribu* 
lion  to  the  literature  of  the  Catacombs. 


•an 


i6o 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


i! 


Ifii       I 


1 


tion,  and  careful  deductions,  place  him  far  beyond  any 
of  his  predecessors  in  this  fascinating  but  difficult  field 
of  inquiry.  While,  however,  his  statements  of  facts 
may  always  be  relied  upon,  his  theoretical  conclusions 
must  sometimes  be  received  with  caution,  in  conse- 
quence of  that  seemingly  inevitable  tendency  in  Roman 
Catholic  writers  to  discover  ancient  evidences  in  favour 
of  their  modern  belief  and  practice  where  they  can  be 
found  by  no  one  else. 

The  Catacombs  are  now  placed  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Roman  Cardinal  Vicar,  assisted  by  a  commission 
of  sacred  archaeology  appointed  by  the  present  pontiff. 
As  far  as  the  comparatively  limited  means  at  their  com- 
mand will  allow,  they  zealously  pr  >secute  the  excavation 
and  exploration  of  this  subterranean  Rome  wi  S  a  sys- 
tematic method  which  has  already  been  attended  with 
remarkable  success,  and  which  promises  the  most  happy 
results  in  the  future.  From  its  crumbling  ruins,  paint- 
ings, decorations,  and  inscriptions  of  different  ages,  De 
Rossi  reconstructs  its  history,  often  with  the  gieatest 
minuteness  and  fidtlity.  His  Roma  Sotterranea  *  con- 
tains a  general  history  of  the  Catacombs  on  the  principle 
adopted  in  this  volume,  and  a  particular  analysis  of  that 
of  Callixtus,  embodying  his  most  important  discoveries. 
The  learned  author  is  also  publishing  a  complete  col- 
lection of  all  the  Christian  inscriptions  of  the  first  seven 
centuries  found  in  the  vicinity  of  Rome.  The  first 
volume  t  contains  all  those  with  consular  dates,  which 

*  Roma  Sotterranea  Cristiana.  Roma,  1864-67.  Four  vols,  fol.,  two 
of  text  and  two  of  plates,  which  are  of  great  fidelity.  The  text  is 
from  the  Vatican  press.     The  plates  bear  the  imprint  Venezia. 

f  Inscriptiones  Christiana  Urbis  Romce  Septimo  Saculo  Antiqui' 
ores.  Romie.  One  vol.  fol.,  1857-61.  It  is  dedicated  to  the  present 
pope,  "Another  Damasus,  who  has  brought  to  light  the  monuments 
of  '.he  martyrs,  .  .  .  overwhelmed  with  ruin." — "  PioIX.,  Pont.  Max. 


is 


Their  Rediscovery  and  Exploration.  i6i 

are  invaluable  as  fixing  the  chronology  of  the  Catacombs 
and  as  evidences  of  doctrine,  showing  its  gradual  cor- 
ruption in  later  times.  De  Rossi  also  edits  a  bimonthly 
journal — the  Bullettino  di  Archeologia  Cristiana — in  which 
the  new  discoveries  are  announced. 

Dr.  Maitland  has  the  honour  of  being  the  first  English 
writer  on  this  subject,  with  the.  exception  of  the  inci- 
dental allusions  of  travellers  like  Evelyn  and  Burnet. 
His  admirable  volume  on  the  "Church  in  the  Cata- 
combs "  is  one  of  great  interest,  but  having  been  writ- 
ten thirty  years  ago  is  quite  out  of  date  ;  and  the  recent 
discoveries  of  De  Rossi  and  others  have  shown  some  of 
its  conclusions,  especially  on  the  origin  of  the  Cata- 
combs, to  be  erroneous.  His  chapters  on  religious  art 
and  symbolism  are  of  permanent  value,  and  the  theo- 
lo;^ical  bearing  of  these  Christian  evidences  has  been 
discussed  with  great  candour  and  moderation. 

In  1852  Mr.  MacFarlane  published  a  small  volume 
giving  a  popular  account  of  the  Catacombs,  making  no 
reference,  however,  to  their  doctrinal  teachings.  "  I 
have,"  he  says,  "carefully  avoided  controversy."  The 
Rev.  J.  W.  Burgon's  "  Letters  from  Rome "  contain 
some  valuable  chapters  on  this  subject.  The  Rev.  J. 
Spencer  Northcote,  D.D.,  a  Roman  Catholic  clergy- 
m.an,  published  in  1857  a  compendious  "Account  of 
the  Burial-places  of  the  Early  Christifirts  in  Rome," 
compiled  chiefly  from  Padre  Marchi,  whose  strongly 
Romanist  views  he  fully  adopted.  In  conjunction  with 
the  Rev.  \V.  R.  Brownlow,  M.A.,  he  published  in  1869 


alteri  Damaso,  qui  monumenta  martyrum,  .  .  .  minis  obstructa  in 
lucem  revocat."  Both  of  these  works,  which  embody  the  result  of  the 
most  recent  explorations,  have  been  laid  under  tribute  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  these  pages.     Several  of  the  illustrations  are  from  the  same 


sources. 


11 


1 62 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


the  results  of  De  Rossi's  labours  in  a  condensed  form, 
with  reduced  copies  of  many  of  his  plates.  With 
the  same  reserve  as  in  the  case  of  h?  former  volume, 
this  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  literature  of 
this  subject.*  More  recently  the  Rev.  W.  B.  Mar- 
riott, B,D.,  has  written  a  work  entitled  "The  Testi- 
mony of  the  Catacombs,"  consisting  of  three  mono- 
graphs illustrating  the  development  of  the  cultus  of 
Mary,  the  gradual  encroachments  of  the  papal  see, 
as  indicated  in  Christian  art,  and  a  critical  analysis  of 
the  celebrated  Autun  inscription. 

In  America,  the  Right  Rev.  Wm.  Ingraham  Kip,  D.D., 
published  in  1853  a  little  book  of  a  popular  character, 
giving  an  account  of  the  Catacombs,  chiefly  from  Mait- 
land,  MacFarlane,  and  Aringhi.  The  authorities  on 
which  it  is  based,  however,  have  since  been  superseded, 
and  some  of  the  views  which  they  held  disproved  by 
recent  discovery. 

The  only  remaining  work  to  be  mentioned  as  illustrat- 
ing this  subject  is  an  admirable  volume  on  Christian 
epigraphy  f  by  the  Rev.  John  McCaul,  LL.D.  The 
learned  author's  expansions,  interpretations,  and  emen- 
dations of  the  frequently  elliptical,  obscure,  and  un- 
grammatical  inscriptions  of  the  Catacombs  and  other 
early  Christian  cemeteries,  and  the  reconstruction  from 

*  Roma  Sotterraea.  London,  1 869.  8vo.,pp.  414.  It  sells  in  New 
York  for  about  $16  00. 

f  "Christian  Epitaphs  of  the  First  Six  Centuries,"  by  the  Rev.  John 
McCaul,  LL.D.,  President  of  University  College,  Toronto.  To- 
ronto and  London,  i86g.  Dr.  McCaul  was  previously  well  known 
to  the  archaeological  world  by  his  learned  volume  on  Brittanno-Ro- 
mano  Inscriptions,  a  work  which  has  elicited  the  commendations  of 
the  highest  critical  authorities  in  Europe.  The  writer  of  these  pj^es 
has  been  greatly  assisted  by  his  veteran  scholarship  and  critical  re- 
vision  of  the  text. 


Their  Rediscovery  and  Exploration.  163 

a  few  mutilated  fragments  of  important  historic  evi- 
dence, seem  to  the  uninitiated  more  a  sort  of  divination 
than  a  process  of  reasoning.* 

*  Among  the  sm<j.!!er  treatises  on  the  Catacombs,  and  separate  ar- 
ticles in  the  encyclop*viU.s  and  journals  of  higher  literature,  may  be 
mentioned  the  following,  most  of  which  have  been  consulted  in  the 
preparation  of  these  pages  :  ^emusat,  Musee  Chretien  de  Rome  ;  Re- 
vue des  D.nx  Mondcs,  Juin  15. 1863  ;  Rruue  Chietienne.Mai,  1864  ; 
Jehan,  Diet,  dcs  Origin,  du  Christ.,  pp.  212,  89  ;  Martigny,  Diet,  des 
Antiq.Chrlt.,\).i6b\  Bouix,  1  heologie  des  Catacombes,  Arras,  1864; 
Piper,  Mythologie  und  Syinbolik  der  Christlichen  Kunst,  Weimar, 
pp.  184,  51,  and  Die  Graben  Schriften  derAltenten  Christen  in  Evang. 
Kallendar  1855,  p.  27,  1827,  p.  37  /  Edin.  Rev.,  January,  1859,  and 
July,  1864 ;  Contemp.  Rev.,  September,  1866,  and  May,  1872 ; 
Monumental  Theology,  by  Prof.  Bennett,  in  Meth.  Quar.  Rev., 
January  and  April,  1871 ;  M'Clintock  and  Strong,  Cyclopedia,  in  verba. 
In  the  Hiitory  of  Sacred  Art  in  Italy,  by  C.  L.  Hemans,  son  of  the 
poetess,  are  two  interesting  chapters  on  the  Catacombs,  and  valuable 
notes  of  ancient  ari, passim.  Seymour's  Mornings  with  the  yesuits  has 
some  interesting  paragraphs  on  this  subject,  as  has  also  Prof.  Silliman's 
Visit  tc  Europe.  The  Rev.  Wm.  Arthur,  M.A.,  has  an  able  Exeter 
Hall  lecture  on  the  Catacombs.  In  Murray's  Hand-Book  of  Rome, 
ed.  of  1867,  is  some  interesting  information  on  this  topic.  In  Har- 
pet^ji  Mag.,  April,  1865,  is  a  popular  article  by  Prof.  Greene,  U.  S. 
Consul  at  Kome.  In  SchaflTs  Ch.  Hist.,  i,  §  93  /  Killens  Anc.  Ch.,  pp. 
348-351  ;  Stanley's -fi'rtj/f;-//  Churches,  and  Milman,/rtjj/;/;,  are  inter- 
esting reffirences  to  the  subject.  In  Westcrop's  Hand-Book  of  Ar- 
chaology,  London,  1867,  and  in  the  Diet.  Epig.  Ckretienne,  Paris, 
1852,  ary  valuable  contributions  on  the  epigraphy  of  the  Catacombs. 
Didron's  Iconographie  Chritienm,  Paris,  1841 ;  Lord  Lindsay's  Hist, 
of  Aft,  London,  1847  ;  Liibke's  History  of  Art,  London,  1869  ;  Mrs, 
Jameson's  Sacred  Art,  Tyrwhitt's  Christian  Art  and  Symbolism,  and 
Hare's  Walks  About  Rome,  have  also  been  laid  under  contribution. 


I^?** 


164 


Tlic  Catacombs  of  Rcme. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE   PRINCIPAL   CATACOMBS   OF    ROME. 


it 


Before  leaving  this  division  of*  our  subject  we  will 
take  a  rapid  survey  of  the  more  remarkable  of  that  vast 
system  of  Christian  cemeteries  that  engirdles  the  city 
of  Rome.  It  will  be  more  convenient  to  notice  them  in 
topographical  order,  beginning  with  those  on  the  Appiaii 
Way,  and  sweeping  around  the  city  to  the  north-west, 
over  the  great  roads  on  the  borders  of  which  the  Cata- 
combs are  chiefly  situated.  The  ground  near  these  roads 
is  honeycombed  with  sepulchral  excavations,  to  which 
there  are  said  to  be  six  hundred  entrances  scattered 
over  the  Campagna.  Bo^io  found  them  in  almost  every 
vineyard  near  the  Salarian  Way.  In  some  of  these  the 
peasants  keep  their  wine,  although  their  fears  prevent 
them  from  venturing  far  irom  the  mouth ;  and  some- 
times villas  fall  in  through  the  subsidence  of  the 
soil. 

The  various  groups  of  crypts  have  been  known  by 
diff"erent  names  at  different  periods,  or  even  at  the  same 
period ;  and  it  is  sometimes  difficult  or  impossible  to 
disentangle  the  conflicting  accounts,  and  to  identify  the 
cemeteries  to  which  the  ancient  names  were  applied. 
The  original  records — the  martyrologies  and  the  Liber 
Pontificalis* — are  sometimes  utterly  unreliable,  and  the 

*  This  book,  so  often  referred  to,  has  been  ascribed  to  Damasus, 
but  much  of  it  is  unquestionably  of  much  later  origin.  While  much 
of  its  information  i^  valuable,  more  of  it  is  quite  unauthentic. 


The  Principal  Catacombs. 


i6s 


very  existence  of  the  saints  and  martyrs  whose  lives  are 
recorded  is  often  exceedingly  apocryphal ;  and  even  if 
their  traditions  are  in  the  main  correct,  it  is  in  many 
cases  doubtful  if  they  are  buried  in  the  Catacombs 
which  bear  theT  names.  Frequently,  however,  these 
traditions  are  confirmed  by  inscriptions  and  other  mon- 
umental evidence,  which  establish  beyond  doubt  the 
identity  of  the  Catacomb,  as  in  the  case  of  that  of 
Callixtus  and  others  which  we  shall  notice. 


Fig".  25.— Tombs  on  Appian  Way. 

Southeastward  from  the  ancient  Porta  Capena  of  the 
city  of  Rome  stretches  the  celebrated  Appian  Way,  the 
most  remarkable  of  those  vast  arteries  of  commerce 
along  which  flowed  to  the  most  distant  provinces  the 
vital  currents  from  the  great  heart  of  the  empire.  This 
"  Queen  of  Roads,"  *  as  it  was  proudly  called,  was  lined 
on  either  side  by  the  stately  tombs  in  which  reposed  the 

*  "  Qua  limite  noto 
Appia  longarum  tcritur  Kegina  J'ia7-utn" — Stat.  Syl.,  II,  2. 


i66 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


ashes  of  the  mighty  dead.  *  "  The  history  of  Christian 
Rome,"  says  Padre  Marchi,  \  **  gives  to  this  same 
road  titles  of  glory  incomparably  more  solid,  just,  and 
indisputable.  We  are  forced  to  acknowledge  it  as  the 
queen  of  Christian  roads  by  reason  of  the  greater  num- 
ber and  extent  of  its  cemeteries,  and  still  more  by  the 
greater  number  and  celebrity  of  its  martyrs."  Under 
the  present  pontiff  this  historic  highway  has  been  ex- 
cavated and  opened  for  travel  as  far  as  Albano ;  and 
one  may  now  traverse  that  avenue  of  tombs  on  the  very 
causeway  on  which  Horace  and  Virgil,  Augustus  and 
Maecenas,  Cicero  and  Seneca,  must  often  have  entered 
Rome.  But  it  is  invested  with  a  profounder  interest  as 
the  way  by  which  the  great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles 
approached  the  city,  "  an  ambassador  in  bonds,"  to 
preach  the  gospel  in  Rome  also,  and  to  finish  his  testi- 
mony by  a  glorious  martyrdom.  By  this  very  road  also, 
according  to  an  ancient  tradition,  his  body  was  stealth- 
ily conveyed  by  night  and  deposited  in  an  adjacent  Cat- 
acomb ;  and  here  wended  many  a  mourning  procession 

*  Often  mere  vulgar  wealth  exhibited  its  ostentation  even  in  death 
by  the  magnitude  and  magnificence  of  these  tombs  designed  to  per- 
petuate the  memory  of  their  occupants  forever.  But,  as  if  to  rebuke 
that  posthumous  pride,  they  are  now  mere  crumbling  ruins,  often  de- 
voted to  ignoble  uses,  the  very  names  of  whose  tenants  are  forgotten. 
Many  of  them,  during  the  stormy  period  of  the  Middle  Ages,  were 
occupied  as  fortresses.  More  recently  that  of  Augustus,  on  the  Cam- 
pus Martius,  was  used  as  an  arena  for  bull-fights,  and  as  a  summer 
theatre,  where  Harlequin  played  his  pranks  upon  an  emperor's  grave. 
Some  of  the  tombs  have  been  converted  into  stables,  pig-styes,  or 
charcoal  cellars.  The  cinerary  urn  of  Agrippina,  wife  of  Germanicus, 
was  long  used  as  a  measure  for  com.  In  many  a  vignarolo's  hovel  in 
the  Campagna  swine  may  be  seen  eating  out  of  sculptured  sarcoph- 
agi, and  in  the  imperial  halls  where  banqueted  the  masters  of  the 
world  they  hold  their  unclean  revels.  "  Expende  Hannibalem,"  says 
the  Roman  satirist,  "  quot  libras  in  duce  summo  invenies?" 

f  Monumcnti  delle  Arti  C^fstiane  Primitive^  p.  73. 


I 


The  Principal  Catacombs, 


167 


bearing  to  those  lowly  crypts  the  remains  of  Rome's 
early  bishops,  martyrs,  and  confessors. 

The  ancient  Porta  Capena,  with  the  dripping  aque- 
duct above  it,*  have  disappeared,  and  the  fountain  of 
Egeria,  trampled  by  cattle,  is  no  longer  the  haunt  of 
nymph  or  naiad.  Passing  through  the  modern  Sebastian 
gate  and  crossing  the  classic  Almo,  the  traveller  reaches 
at  a  short  distance  the  little  church  of  Domine  quo 
vadis,  with  which  is  connected  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful legends  of  the  martyrology.f 

About  a  mile  and  three  quarters  from  the  city  he 
comes  to  Vigna  Animendola,  on  the  doorway  leading  to 
which  is  a  marble  tablet  with  the  words  ccemeterivm 
s.  CALLiXTi.  Beneath  this  vineyard  lies  the  celebrated 
Catacomb  of  Callixtus,  of  which  we  propose  to  enter 
into  a  somewhat  detailed  description,  as  it  will  give 

*  Substitit  ad  veteres  arcus,  madidamque  Capenam. 

— ^Juv.,  Sat.,  iii. 

f  The  legend  asserts  that  as  the  Apostle  Peter  was  leaving  Rome 
in  the  early  dawn,  in  order  to  escape  martyrdom,  he  met  Our  Lord 
bearing  his  cross,  and,  throwing  himself  at  his  feet,  exclaimed, 
Domine  quo  vadis — "  Lord,  whither  goest  thou  ? "  In  accents  of 
tender  rebuke  the  Master  answered,  Venio  Romam  iteruin  crucifigi 
— "  I  am  going  to  Rome  to  be  crucified  again."  Stung  with  contrition 
and  remorse,  the  disciple,  according  to  the  tradition,  returned  to  the 
city,  and  there  was  crucified  —  by  his  own  request  with  his  head 
downwards,  as  unworthy  to  share  the  same  mode  of  death  as  the  Lord 
whom  he  had  denied.  In  the  neighbouring  church  of  St.  Sebastian 
is  a  white  marble  slab  bearing  impressions  said  to  have  been  made 
by  the  feet  of  Our  Lord.  The  stoiy  is  first  mentioned  by  Origen,  who 
applies  it  to  St.  Paul.  St.  Ambrose  substitutes  St.  Peter,  but  the 
precise  spot  was  not  fixed  till  the  fifteenth  century  ;  and  Aringhi,  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  is  the  first  who  mentions  the  impression  of 
the  feet  in  "  that  stone  most  worthy,  more  valuable  than  any  precious 
jewel."  This  white  marble  slab  is  certainly  very  unlike  the  dark 
gray  porphyry  of  the  Appian  pavement,  and  the  irregular  depression 
in  its  surface  bears  slight  resemblance  to  human  feet.  But  no  his- 
torical difficulties  are  too  great  for  the  devout  credulity  of  Rome. 


i  , 


'I 


i 


r 


» 


i  ( 


I 


I68 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


greater  definiteness  to  the  general  conceptions  already 
received,  and  will  serve  as  a  typical  example  of  the 
origin  and  history  of  the  Catacombs  in  general. 

In  the  year  1849  De  Rossi  found  in  a  cellar  in  this 
vineyard  a  broken  marble  slab  with  the  mutilated  in- 
scription ELIVS  •  MARTYR,  and  at  the  beginning  the 
upt3er  part  of  the  letters  RN.  He  immediately  conjec- 
tured that  this  was  a  fragment  of  the  tombstone  of 
Cg  1  elius,  a  Roman  bishop  of  the  third  century,  whose 
sepul^  ^  e  would  probably  be  found  not  far  off.  At  his 
persuasion  the  pope  purchased  the  vineyard,  and  the 
archaeological  commission  began  the  work  of  excavation. 
They  were  rewarded  by  some  of  the  most  remarkable 
discoveries  which  have  yet  been  made. 

The  cemetery  is  situated  between  the  Via  Appia  and 
the  Via  Ardeatina,  which  are  connected  by  narrow 
cross-roads.  De  Rossi  has  prepared  a  map  of  the  prin- 
cipal part  of  it,  divided  into  fifteen  rectilinear  and  gen- 
erally rectangular  areas.  The  dimensions  of  these 
areas  are  not  fractional  but  round  numbers,  as  100,  125, 
150,  and  250  feet,  which  cannot  be  the  result  of  accident, 
and,  with  other  evidences,  indicate  that  they  were,  like 
similar  pagan  sepulchral  areas,  originally  so  many  sepa- 
rate places  of  burial.  When  brought  under  the  eccle- 
siastical control  of  Callixtus,  about  A.  D.  200,  they 
probably  received  one  common  name,  became  struc- 
turally united,  and  were  used  as  a  public  cemetery 
of  the  church. 

The  first  of  these  areas  which  we  reach  on  entering 
the  vineyard  is  that  known  as  the  crypt  of  St.  Lucina. 
It  has  a  frontage  of  one  hundred  feet  on  the  Via  Appia, 
and  an  extension  in  agro  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet. 
The  limits  of  this  area  are  exactly  defined  by  the  pres- 
ence of  a  small  pagan  hypogceum  on  each  side,  which  the 


i ! 


At 


The  Principal  Catacombs. 


169 


Christians  dared  not  undermine.  In  the  centre,  near 
the  road,  is  a  massive  monument,  shown  in  the  section 
of  this  crypt.  Fig.  14,  which  De  Rossi  conjecti  .  js  to  have 
been  a  Christian  mausoleum,*  quoting  Tertuilian  f  as  a 
witness  that  they  had  monutnenta  et  mausolea  at  a  very 
early  period.  %  This  is  more  probable  from  the  fact  that 
the  property  belonged  to  the  noble  Roman  family  of  the 
Caecilii,  with  which  Cicero  was  connected,  many  of 
whose  tombs  were  found  in  the  neighbourhood.  This 
probably  explains  its  vicinity  to  the  stately  mausoleum 
of  Caecilia  Metella.  "^1  .e  ames  of  many  CEecilii  and 
other  noble  Roman  far^lies  are  also  found  on  epitaphs 
in  this  crypt.  This  was  unquestionably  one  of  the  most 
ancient  areas  of  the  Cat  combs. 

In  this  area,  in  i?  2,  the  remaining  portion  of  the  epi- 
taph of  Cornelius  was  found  at  the  foot  of  the  tomb  to 
which  it  evidently  belonged,  in  a  gallery  of  unusual 
width. 

This  tomb  is  flanked  by  pilasters  covered  with  fine 
white  stucco,  and  a  mutilated  inscription  in  the  well- 
known  manner  of  Damasus  commemorates  its  adorn- 
ment by  that  pontiff.  Numerous  graffiti  indicate  that 
this  was  a  favourite  shrine.  Faded  frescoes  of  Cornelius, 
Cyprian,  and  two  other  bishops,  wearing  the  stole,  ton- 
sure, and  nimbus,  are  attributed  by  De  Rossi  to  the 
ninth  century.  Beside  the  tomb  is  a  short  column  of 
masonry,  covered  with  stucco,  which  probably  sustained 
an  altar  or  the  vase  of  oil  in  which  tapers  were  anciently 
burned  before  the  shrines  of  the  martyrs ;  §  indeed,  the 


*  Rom.  Sott.y  ii,  367.  \  De  Resurrect.  Camis.,  c.  27. 

X  Rom.  Sott.,  i,  210. 

§  The  Council  of  Elvira,  A.  D.  305,  forbade  the  burning  of  wax 
tapers  by  day  in  the  cemeteries  of  the  dead — Cereos  per  diem  placuit 
in  Cfjemetcrio  non  incendi.     Cone.  Elib.,  can.  34. 


'f^ 


li 


170 


T/te  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


;      41 


s 

'i 


fragments  of  such  a  vase  have  been  found  among  the 
rubbish  of  the  tomb.  Among  the  relics  sent  by  Gregory 
the  Great  to  Queen  Theodelinda,  according  to  the  list 
still  extant  in  the  cathedral  of  Monza,  said  to  be  in  the 
handwriting  of  that  pope,  is  one  ex  oleo  S.  Corneliiy  which 
must  have  come  from  this  spot. 

When  the  area  of  Lucina  became  crowded  with  tombs 
another  of  the  same  size  was  opened  about  a  hun- 
dred yards  off.  It  contains  the  celebrated  "  Papal 
Crypt,"  the  tomb  of  St.  Cecilia,  and  other  monuments 
of  the  greatest  interest.  We  will  give  a  somewhat  de- 
tailed account  of  the  construction  and  successive  changes 
of  this  area,  following  the  skilful  analysis  of  De  Rossi, 
who  has  given  accurate  plans,  sections,  and  measure- 
ments of  the  whole.  It  extended,  as  is  shown  by  the 
dotted  lines  in  the  accompanying  plan,  two  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  along  the  narrow  cross-road  marked  M  N, 
and  one  hundred  feet  in  agro.  This  would,  in  the 
first  place,  be  secured  as  a  burial-ground  by  the 
Christian  owner  with  the  proper  legal  forms,  which,  we 
have  seen,  protected  the  places  of  sepulture  from  inva- 
sion or  disturbance  till  the  times  of  the  later  persecution. 
Openings  were  then  made  from  the  surface  at  A  and  B, 
and  stairways  constructed  reaching  to  a  depth  of  thirty- 
nine  feet.  These  stairways  were  partly  lined  with  brick- 
work, but  were  chiefly  cut  in  the  solid  tufa.  The  walls 
were  coated  with  fine  stucco,  white  and  firm — an  evi- 
dence of  antiquity — and  ornamented  with  bands  of 
a  bright  red  pigment.  The  original  steps  were  cov- 
ered with  marble,  but  they  were  afterwards  restored 
with  masonry.  The  upper  part,  indicated  by  dotted 
lines,  is  destroyed  to  the  depth  of  ten  feet,  and  there  is 
evidence  of  the  complete  obstruction  of  the  passage, 
doubtless  during  time  of  persecution.     The  stairway  B 


The  Principal  Catacombs. 


171 


has  been  used  as  a  wine  store,  and  is  obstructed  by  a 
wall  and  a  smaller  transverse  stairway. 

An  ambulacrum  or  gallery  was  first  excavated  around 
the  sides  of  the  area,  and  several  cross  passages,  as  D.. 


"^.iiiiSr^m^  ^-^X^     N 


FlflT.  26.— Part  of  Cemetery  of  Callixtus. 


E,  F,  G,  H,  I,  constructed.     The  walls  are  thickly  lined 
with  graves,  and  in  places  the  floor  has  been  lowered  to 
give  room  for  still  more  loculi.     At  D,  C,  the  fossors 
finding  the  wall  to  crumble,  had  to  stre-.gthen  it  with 
masonry,  and  to  desist  from  lowering  the  floor  of  the 


1/3 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


^ 


■  i 


i 


gallery.     Hence  the  latter  is  not  level,  but  has,  in  places, 
steps  which  have  been  worn  to  an  inclined  plane.     The 
increasing  demand  for  graves  led  to  the  formation  of  the 
cubicula  Ai  to  A«,  as  well  as  others  in  the  interior  of  the 
area.    Many  of  these  are  decorated  with  frescoes,  and  A| 
is  known  as  the  Capclla  dei  Sacramenti^  or  Chapel  of  the 
Sacrament,  on  account  of  its  so-called  liturgical  paint- 
ings.    A4  has  a  coloured  marble  floor  of  symmetrical  de- 
sign, and  A,  has  a  large  sepolcro  a  mcnsa  lined  with 
marble  and  flanked  with   marble   pilasters.     T^e  iron 
bars  which  supported  the  table  tomb  may  still  be  seen. 
There  are  many  Greek  as  well  as  Latin  inscriptions  in 
these  galleries,  and  some  of  the  tiles  which  close  the 
loculi  bear  the  stamp  of  the  emperors  M.  Aurelius  and 
Commodus,  which  fixes  the  date  of  this  area.     Some 
of  the  passages  are  entirely  paved  with  such  tiles.     Nu- 
merous niches  for  lamps  also  occur.     At  F  a  well  was 
excavated  which  still  contains  water.     It  is  furnished 
with  foot-holes,  that  a  man  might  descend  in  order  to 
clean  it  out.     This  is  common  in  other  wells  in  the 
Catacombs. 

The  ever-pressing  necessity  for  graves  compelled  the 
fossors  at  length  to  attempt  the  construction  of  galleries 
on  a  lower  level.  Accordingly  we  find  a  stairway, 
H,  Hs,  of  thirty-four  steps  leading  down  from  the  gal- 
lery H.  The  rock,  however,  through  which  this  stair- 
way descends  is  no  longer  the  firm  tufa  granolare  of  the 
upper  level,  but  a  very  friable  stratum  of  pozzolana^ 
which  made  it  necessary  to  protect  the  walls  with  brick- 
work. Finding  this  stratum  of  great  depth,  they  exca- 
vated a  horizontal  passage,  and  a  still  further  narrow 
experimental  cleft,  as  it  were,  in  search  of  firmer  rock, 
but  soon  abandoned  the  attempt,  failing  to  find  any 
suitable  for  sepulture.     The  few  graves  they  made  had 


The  Principal  Catacombs. 


173 


to  be  built  of  brick-work  ;  and  in  one  of  these  was  found 
a  little  terra  cotta  sarcophagus,  containing  the  body  of 
an  infant.  This  shows  the  utter  unfitness  of  the  pozzo- 
iana  beds  in  which  the  arenaria  are  excavated  for  the 
construction  of  the  Catacombs.  We  have  seen  that 
about  A.  D.  200  Callixtus  became  the  guardian  of  this 
cemetery,  which  seems  to  have  then  become  the  burial- 
place  of  the  bishops  of  Rome  instead  of  the  crypts  of 
the  Vatican  as  previously.  According  to  the  Liber 
Pontificalisy  out  of  eighteen  bishops  from  Zephyrinus  to 
Sylvester,  that  is,  from  A.  D.  197  to  A.  D.  314,  no  less 
than  thirteen  were  buried  in  this  cemetery.  This  Cal- 
lixtus was  originally  a  slave,  afterwards  elevated  to  the 
highest  ecclesiastical  dignities,  including  the  episcopate 
itself — a  proof  of  the  superiority  of  the  church  to  all 
social  distinctions.  According  to  Hippolytus,  the  un- 
doubted author  of  the  recently  discovered  Philosophou- 
viena^  he  reached  that  dignity  by  dishonourable  means, 
by  fraud  and  guilfe.  He  was  at  one  time  banished  by 
the  emperor  to  the  mines  of  Sardinia  for  embezzling 
moneys  intrusted  to  his  care,  and  on  his  return  lapsed 
•  into  heresy  bordering  on  pantheism,  or  at  least  was 
charged  with  that  offence.  But  although  the  character 
of  Callixtus  shows  the  nascent  corruptions  of  the  church 
of  Rome  even  early  in  the  third  century,  it  should  not 
prejudice  us  against  the  cemetery  called  by  his  name. 
He  himself  is  interred  elsewhere,*  and  the  holy  con- 
fessors and  martyrs  who  slumbered  here  have  consecrated 
the  place  forever  with  their  hallowed  dust. 

Toward  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  as  we  have 

*  He  was  killed  by  being  thrown  out  of  th  «rindow  of  his  house 
in  a  popular  tumult  in  Rome.  His  body  v  cast  into  a  well,  and 
afterwards  secretly  coiweyed  to  the  cemetery  of  Calepodius,  on  the 
Via  Aurelia,  in  the  immediate  vicinity. 


«■ 


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!■ 
I 

i' ; 
'.'il ' 

« 


174 


T/te  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


:JI 


P 


i 


seen,  even  the  cemeteries  themselves  were  not  secure 
from  invasion  by  the  persecuting  tyrants.  When  the 
protection  of  the  law  was  withdrawn,  the  public  stair- 
ways A  and  B,  Fig.  20,  were  blocked  up  and  partially 
destroyed,  new  passages,  B,  and  B3,  were  opened  into 
the  adjacent  arenarium  for  the  entrance  and  escape  of 
the  Christians,  and  a  very  narrow  and  steep  secret  stair- 
way, X4,  was  constructed  from  the  roof  of  the  latter  to 
the  open  air,  requiring  a  ladder,  which  might  be  re- 
moved to  cut  off  pursuit,  or  the  assistance  of  friends  for 
entrance  or  departure.*  We  have  here  an  affecting  in- 
stance of  the  perils  to  which  the  persecuted  Christians 
were  exposed  when  hunted  through  these  gloomy  crypts 
by  their  cruei  pagan  foes.  The  difference  between  the 
straight  and  narrow  galleries  of  the  Catacombs  and  the 
wide  and  unsymmetrical  windings  of  the  arenarium 
will  be  remarked.  Connexions  were  also  formed  with 
adjacent  areas  at  S,  Ci,  Cj,  and  Bi,  sometimes  break- 
ing directly  through  the  loaili  and  cubicula.  The  ut- 
most economy  of  space  was  now  observed,  every  ava'.l- 
able  foot  of  wall  being  occupied ;  the  inscriptions  be- 
come more  rude,  indicating  poverty  and  oppression  ;  and 
the  stucco  or  marble  ornaments  give  place  to  rude 
carvings  of  the  tufa  itself  into  cornices,  columns,  and 
capitals.  Some  of  the  cubirula  are  made  of  larger  size, 
as  if  for  worship,  sometimes  six  or  eight-.sided,  and  oc- 
casionally with  apsidal  recesses. 

During  the  terrible  period  of  the  Diocletian  persecu- 
tion, when  the  cemeteries  were  confiscated  by  the 
heathen  government,  the  Christians,  in  order  to  prevent 
the  profanation  of  the  more  sacred  sepulchres,  and  espec- 
ially that  of'the  bishops,  filled  up  the  principal  galleries 
with  earth  at  immense  expense  and  labour.  Much  of 
*  See  secti'^n  of  this  stairway  in  Fig.  22. 


1 


The  Prhuipal  Catacombs. 


175 


this  still  encumbers  the  passages  and  forms  the  chief 
obstacle  to  their  exploration.  On  the  cessation  of  the 
persecution  some  of  these  galleries  leading  to  the  prin- 
cipal crypts  were  cleared  out  by  means  of  cylindrical 
shafts  made  for  the  purpose  ;  and  sometimes  new  gal- 
leries were  excavated  in  the  tufa  above  the  old  ones, 
the  floor  of  which  was  formed  of  the  consolidated  earth 
in  the  former  gallery.  Where  this  earth  has  been  re- 
moved the  height  of  the  two  galleries  is,  in  places,  twenty 
feet,  filled  with  graves  to  the  top,  the  upper  part  being 
much  narrower  than  the  lower.  The  obstructions  in 
the  stairways  A  and  B  were  also  removed  and  the  stairs 
renewed. 

We  have  seen  that  Damasus  was  indefatigable  in  his 
restoration  of  the  Catacombs.  It  might,  therefore,  be 
expected  that  this  important  area  would  give  evidence 
of  his  labours.  Such  evidence  is  found  in  a  broad 
stairway  of  fine  masonry,  not  shown  in  Fig.  26,  made  to 
accommodate  the  crowds  of  pilgrims  who  thronged  to 
those  sacred  shrines,  the  "  Papal  Crypt  "  and  tomb  of  St. 
Cjcilii.  This  stairway  was  discovered  by  De  Rossi  in 
1854,  entirely  blocked  up  with  an  immense  mass  of  earth 
and  rubbish,  as  were  also  the  chambers  to  which  it  led. 
The  removal  of  this  was  a  work  of  great  expense  and 
labour.  The  vestibule,  L,  which  we  first  enter,  is  con- 
structed entirely  of  masonry,  and  is  lighted  by  a  large 
luminare.  Its  plastered  walls  are  covered  with  graffiti^ 
an  indication  that  we  are  approaching  a  spot  held  in 
especial  sanctity  by  the  ancient  church.* 

These  casual  records  of  the  generations  of  pilgrims 
who  have  visited  the  tombs  of  the  primitive  bish- 
ops,  martyrs,  and   confessors,   have    proved    in    many 

"   Here  were  also  found  a  number  of  polygonal  basalt  paving- 
stones.  evidenMy  from  the  roadway  above. 


lyC 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


*  \\ 


II     f 


r  i.ses  of  great  importance,  and  are,  in  the  words  of  De 
iLossi,  "  the  faithful  echoes  of  history,  and  infallible 
guides  through  these  subterranean  labyrinths."  But 
they  are  sometimes  also,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter, 
indications  of  the  corruption  of  doctrine,  and  of  the 
nascent  belief  in  human  mediation  between  man  and 
God. 

It  is  somewhat  of  a  disappointment  to  find,  on  enter- 
ing this  celebrated  sanctuary,  (Li  in  the  plan,)  that  in- 
stead of  being  a  veritable  relic  of  the  third  or  fourth 
century,  most  of  the  masonry  is  only  a  few  years  old. 
When  an  entrance  was  effected  into  it  in  1854,  which 
could  only  be  done  through  the  luminare^  it  was  found 
in  a  ruinous  condition,  filled  with  earth,  broken  brick- 
work, and  rubbish  of  every  sort.  When  this  was  removed 
the  vault  gave  way,  and  had  to  be  almost  entirely  rebuilt 
and  lined  with  masonry.  The  chamber  itself  is  com- 
paratively small,  being  only  about  eleven  by  fcurteen 
feet.  It  has  a  barrel  roof,  and  is  lighted  by  a  large 
liiminare.  The  pavement  was  of  marble,  and  covered 
graves  made  beneath  it.  On  each  side  are  eight  large 
ioci/li\  the  lower  row  of  which  has  spaces  to  contain  sar- 
cophagi. The  walls  were  formerly  lined  with  marble, 
and  had  semi-detached  marble  pillars,  the  bases  of 
which  still  remain.  At  the  end  opposite  the  entrance 
is  a  large  sepolcro  a  mensa,  in  front  of  which  is  a  dais 
elevated  two  steps.  In  thi«i  dais  are  four  sockets  to 
receive  the  bases  of  as  many  short  pillars  which  sup- 
ported a  marble  table  standing  out  from  the  wall,  as 
unlike  as  possible  to  a  modern  Roman  altar.  The  whole 
was  surrounded  by  a  low  parapet  of  marble  lattice  work, 
fragments  of  which  have  been  disinterred  from  the  debris 
that  encumbered  the  spot. 

In   this  little  chamber  no  less  than  eleven   Roman 


The  Principal  Catacombs. 


177 


bishops  of  the  third  century  are  recorded  to  have  been 
Ijuried,  and  others  :n  iJ^s  immediate  vicinity,  when  per- 
secution or  other  reasons  prevented  their  being  laid  in 
its  sacred  inclosure.  As  we  have  already  seen,*  De  Rossi 
has  recovered  in  the  rubbish  of  this  chamber  what  he 
conceives  to  be  the  original  epitaphs  of  five  of  these 
bishops,  and  presumptive  evidence  of  the  presence  of 
others.  St.  !Sixtus,  indeed,  is  frequently  mentioned  in 
the  graffiti  as  he  to  whom  especial  reverence  was  here 
paid,  and  De  Rossi  found  in  this  crypt  fragments  of 
his  epitaph  which  we  have  prevlo'^jly  given. f  The  fol- 
lowing Damasine  inscription  was  discovered  by  De  Rossi 
among  the  dtbris  of  this  chamber  in  one  hundred  and 
twenty  fragments,  and  with  great  skill  and  learning  re- 
constructed and  restored  to  the  wall. 


HIC   CONGESTA   lACET  QVAERIS   SI  TVRBA   PIORVM 
CORPORA   SANCTORVM    RETINENT   VENERANDA   SEPVLCHRA 
SVBLIMES   ANIMAS   RAPVIT   SIBI   REGIA   CAELI 
HIC  COMITES   XYSTI   PORTANT  QVI   EX   HOSTE   TROPAEA 
HIC   NVMERVS   PROCERVM   SERVAT   QVI   ALTARIA   CHRISTI 
HIC   POSITVS   LONGA  VIXIT   QVI   IN   PACE   SACERDOS 
HIC  CONFESSORES   SANCTI   QVOS   GRAECIA   MISIT 
HIC  IVVENES   PVERIQVE   SENES   CASTIQVE   NEPOTES 
QVIS   MAGE   VIRGINEVM   PLACVIT   RETINERE   PVDOREM 
HIC   FATEOR  DAMASVS  VOLVI  MEA  CONDERE   MEMBRA 
BED   CINERES  TIMVI   SANCTOS   VEXARE   PIORVM. 

•'  Here,  if  you  would  know,  lie  heaped  together  a  whole  crowd  of 

holy  ones. 
These  honoured  sepulchres  inclose  the  bodies  of  the  saints. 
Their  noble  souls  the  palace  of  Heaven  has  taken  to  itself. 
Here  lie  the  companions  of  Xystus,  who  bear  away  the  trophies  from 

the  enemy  ; 
Here  a  number  of  elders,  who  guard  the  altars  of  Christ ; 
Here  is  buried  the  priest,  who  long  lived  in  peace  ; 
Here  the  holy  confessors  whom  Greece  sent  us  ; 


*  Pp.  81-83. 


12 


f  Pp.  85.  86. 


m- 


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tiH 


» 


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i 


178  The  Catacombs  of  Kom(r. 

Here  lie  youths  and  boys,  old  men  a:td  :b<  ir  chaitc  pffspring, 
Who  chose,  as  the  better  part,  to  keep  their  virgin  chastity. 
Here  I,  Damasus,  confess  I  wished  to  lay  my  limbs, 
But  I  feared  to  disturb  the  holy  ashes  of  the  saints."  * 

An  ancient  itineran-  states  that  eighty,  or,  according 
to  one  account,  eight  hundred,  martyrs  ;.re  buried  in 
this  part  of  the  Catacomb  ;  and  in  the  corner  of  this 
very  crypt  is  a  pit  of  remarkable  depth,  probably  the 
pdyandria^  in  which  were  "  heaped  together  a  whole 
crowd  "  of  the  victims  of  persecution. 

Besides  these  restorations  of  Damasus,  there  Is  evi- 
dence of  successive  decorations  of  this  celebrated 
shrine  down  to  the  period  of  Leo  III.,  at  the  end  of  the 
eighth  century.  So  great  have  been  the  changes  thus 
caused  that  De  Rossi  confesses  that  it  is  impossible  to 
say  what  was  the  original  character  of  the  chamber. 

Adjoining  the  "  Papal  Crypt  "  Is  tha^.  of  St.  Cecilia, 
(O,  Fig.  26,)  to  which  we  pass  from  the  former  through 
a  narrow  doorway  in  the  rock.  This  is  3ne  of  the  largest 
cubicula  in  the  Catacombs,  being  nearly  twenty  feet 
square,  and  ii  >ded  with  light  by  a  large  luminare. 
The  chamber,  ¥,  il  h  gives  evidence  of  having  been  greatly 
enlarged  from  its  original  dimensions,  was  once  lined  with 
marble  and  mosaic,  as  were  also  the  sides  of  the  doorway 
and  the  arch  above.  It  has  also  been  frequently  adorned 
with  paintings,  a  sure  indication  of  its  especial  sanctity. 
Among  these  are  a  large  head  of  Our  Lord,  of  the  Byzan- 
tine type,  with  4  Greek  nimbus,  in  a  semicircular  niche, 

*  The  old  brick  building  with  three  npsides  and  a  vaulted  roof, 
near  the  entrance  to  this  cr)'pt,  long  i^sed  as  a  gardener's  storehouse, 
has  been  claimed  as  the  basilica  which  Damasus  prqvided  for  the 
bu';al  of  himself,  his  mother,  and  sister ;  but  it  was  more  pfqbably 
^t  fabrici'i  for  worship  or  the  celebration  of  the  agape,  or  siniply  fof 
the  guardian  .)f  the  Catacomb. 


The  Prindj^al  Catacombs. 


If  79 


and  a  full-length  ligure  of  St.  Urban  in  pontifi-:  il  iO*>es, 
with  his  name  inscribed.  Both  of  these,  De  Ros  linuks^ 
belong  to  the  tenth  or  eleventh  century.  A''  "hti  ;)ic- 
ture,  probably  of  the  seventh  century,  of  a  rich.y  Litired 
Roman  lady  with  jeweled  bracelets  and  necklace,  is 
conjectured  to  represent  St.  Cecilia.  A  large  recess  in 
the  wall  next  to  the  "  Papal  Crypt  "  is  thought  to  have 
held  her  sarcophagus,  De  Rossi  and  his  English  editors 
seem  to  accept  substantially  the  Romish  legend  of  this 
celebrated  martyr.  Protestant  readers,  however,  will 
take  the  liberty  of  rejecting  the  miraculous  part  of  the 
story  as  an  invention  of  the  fifth  century,  when  the  le- 
gend first  appears. 

St.  Cecilia,  virgin  and  martyr,  according  to  her  rather 
apocryphal  Acts  was  a  maiden  of  noble  rank — ingenua^ 
nobilis,  clarissima.  She  sang  so  sweetly  that  the  angels 
descended  to  listen  to  her  voice;  and  to  her  i:  ascribed 
the  invention  of  the  organ,  which  is  therefore  uer  attri- 
bute in  art.  She  was  betrothed  to  Va'^rian.  a  'nagan  of 
patrician  rank,  yet  had  vowed  to  be  th-^  pous*  of  Christ 
alone.  She  confessed  her  vow  to  Va'  an  oa  her  mar- 
riage-day, and  assured  him  that  she  v-  3?  ever  guarded 
by  an  angel  of  God,  who  would  avenge  r^  violation. 
He  promised  to  respect  her  vow  if  he  iMgiu  oehold  her 
celestial  visitant.  She  told  him  that  his  «  yes  must  be 
first  illumed  by  faith  and  purged  with  spiritual  euphrasy 
by  baptismj  and  sent  him  to  St.  Urban,  then  hiding  in 
the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus,  who  instructed  and  baptized 
him.  On  his  return  he  found  Cecilia  praying,  with  an 
angel  by  her  side  who  crowned  her  with  immortal 
flowers — the  lilies  of  purity  and  the  roses  of  martyrdom. 
His  brother  Tiburtius  came  in,  and,  struck  with  the 
heavenly  fragrance,  for  it  was  not  the  time  of  flowers, 
he   also   was    converted    and    baptized.      Refusing    to 


iki 


w\ 


1 80 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I 


sacrifice  to  the  pagan  gods,  the  brothers  both  received 
the  crown  of  martyrdom.* 

Cecilia  herself  was  reserved  for  a  more  glorious  tes- 
timony. By  order  of  the  Roman  prefect  she  was  shut 
up  in  the  caldarium,  or  chamber  of  the  bath,  in  her  own 
palace,  which  was  heated  to  the  point  of  sufifocation. 
After  a  whole  day  and  a  night  she  was  found  unharmed. 
No  sweat  stood  upon  her  brow,  no  lassitude  oppressed 
her  limbs.  A  lictor  was  sent  to  strike  off  her  head. 
Three  times  the  axe  fell  upon  her  tender  neck,  but,  as 
the  law  forbade  the  infliction  of  more  than  three  strokes, 
she  was  left  alive  though  bathed  in  blood.  For  three 
days  she  lingered,  testifying  of  the  grace  of  God  and 
turning  many  to  the  faith ;  and  then,  giving  her  goods 
to  the  poor  and  her  house  for  a  church  forever,  she 
sweetly  fell  asleep.  Her  body  was  placed  in  a  cypress 
coffin — very  un^  ual  in  the  Catacombs,  it  is  doubtful  if 
a  single  example  was  ever  discovered — and  buried  in 
the  cemetery  of  Callixtus,  "  near  the  chapel  of  the 
popes." 

But  miracles  ceased  not  with  her  death.  In  the  trans- 
lation of  the  martyrs  from  the  Catacombs  by  Pascal  I., 
in  817,  the  remains  of  Cecilia  were  overlooked.  The 
saint  appeared  to  the  pope  in  a  vision  and  revealed  the 
place  of  her  burial. f  He  sought  the  spot,  and  found  her 
body  as  fresh  and  perfect  as  when  laid  in  the  tomb  five 
centuries  before  !  He  placed  it  in  a  marble  sarcopha- 
♦-  IS  under  the  high  altar  of  the  church  of  St.  Cecilia, 
\v\lich  he  rebuilt  upon  the  site  of  her  palace. 

In  the  year  1599,  or  nearly  eight  centuries  later,  Car- 


*  About  A.  D.  230,  say  the  Acts,  although  the  Christians  then  en- 
joyed profound  peace. 

f  An  antioue  fresco  at  St.  Cecilia  represents  the  apparition  of  the 
martyr  to  the  pontiff  as  he  slept  in  his  throne  on  St.  Peter's  day. 


I- 


i 


r  ^  -  .W  ■  - 


The  Principal  Catacombs. 


i8i 


dinal  Sfondrati,  while  restoring  the  church,  discovered 
this  ancient  sarcophagus.  It  was  opened  in  the  presence 
of  trustworthy  witnesses,  and  there,  say  the  ecclesiastical 
records  of  the  time,  vested  in  golden  tissue,  with  linen 
clothes  steeped  with  blood  at  the  feet,  besides  remnants 
of  silken  drapery,  lay  the  incorrupt  and  virgin  form  of 
St.  Cecilia  in  the  very  attitude  in  which  she  died.^ 

It  is  difficult  to  know  what  proportion  of  truth  this 
legend  contains ;  but,  like  many  other  of  the  Romish 
traditions,  the  large  admixture  of  fiction  invalidates 
the  claims  of  the  whole.  Its  sweet  and  tender  mysti- 
cism, however,  lifts  it  out  of  the  region  of  fact  into  that 
of  poetry,  and  almost  disarms  hostile  criticism. f  The 
excessive  praise  of  virginity  indicates  a  comparatively 
late  origin.  On  the  festival  of  St.  Cecilia,  the  22d  of 
November,  her  tomb  is  adorned  with  flowers  and  illu- 
mined with  lamps,  and  mass  is  celebrated  in  her  subter- 
ranean chapel  by  a  richly  appareled  priest — strange  con- 
trast to  the  primitive  worship  with  which  alone  she  was 
acquainted.     In   a    sarcophagus    discovered    near   her 

*  In  an  arched  recess  under  the  high  altar  of  St.  Cecilia  is  a  beau- 
tiful marble  statue  of  the  saint  in  a  recumbent  posture,  by  Stefano 
Madema,  accompanied  by  the  following  inscription  : 

EN  TIBI  SANCTISSIMAE  VIRGINIS  CAECILIAE  IMAGINEM  QVAM  IPSE 
INTEGRAM  IN  SEPVLCHRO  lACENTEM  VIDI  EADEM  TIBI  PRORSVS 
EODEM   CORPORIS   SITV   HOC   MARMORE   EXPRESSI. 

"  Behold  the  image  of  the  lost  holy  Virgin  Cecilia,  whom  I  myself 
saw  lying  incorrupt  in  her  tomb.  I  have  in  this  marble  expressed  for 
thee  the  same  saint  in  the  very  same  posture  of  body." 

f  The  modem  additions  have  less  claim  on  our  reverence.  The 
skeptical  will  see  no  reason  why  the  remains  of  Cecilia  should  defy 
the  laws  of  nature  for  fourteen  centuries,  when  after  only  two  those 
of  Charles  Borromeo,  also  a  saint,  which  are  exhibited  at  Milan  arrayed 
in  (ostly  gold-embroidered  robes  and  sparkling  with  gems,  reveal 
only  a  black  and  decaying  head  and  eyeless  sockets,  the  skin  shriveled 
and  ruptured  and  the  shrunken  lips  parting  in  a  ghastly  smile. 


f. 

1 

182 


Tke  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


tomb  were  found  the  remains,  it  is  assumed,  of  her  hus- 
band Valerian  and  his  brother  Tiburtius,  who  had 
manifestly  been  beheaded  ;  and  also  those  of  the  prefect 
Maximus,  who  was  converted  by  their  martyrdom  and 
was  himself  beaten  to  death  by  plumbatce.  The  skull  of 
the  latter  was  found  broken,  as  if  by  such  a  weapon,  and 
its  abundant  hair  matted  with  blood  ! 

Other  definite  areas  of  this  Catacomb  have  been 
recognized  and  their  outlines  defined.  Indeed,  Father 
Marchi  asserts  that  this  is  "  the  colossal  region  of  Roma 
Sotterranea^  all  the  rest  being  only  small  or  middling 
provinces,"*  About  a  hundred  yards  from  the  "Papal 
Crypt  "  is  the  tomb  of  another  celebrated  martyr  and 
bishop,  St.  Eusebius;  the  graffiti  on  the  walls,  the  stair- 
way, and  the  decorations  of  which  attest  the  reverence 
in  which  it  was  held.  While  digging  here  in  1856,  De 
Rossi  found  the  important  epitaph  of  Eusebius  before 
given,  f 

Intimately  connected  with  this  are  also  the  adjacent 
cemeteries  of  St.  Soteris,  a  virgin  martyr  of  the  same 
family  from  which  Ambrose  was  descended ;  and  that  of 
St,  Balbina,  of  vast  extent,  in  several  piani^  and  on  a 
scale  of  unusual  grandeur.  These  are  as  yet  only  par- 
tially explored,  and  promise  the  richest  results  to  future 
examination.  That  of  St.  Balbina  has  many  double,  and 
even  quadruple,  cubicula^  and  the  largest  and  most  regu- 
lar group  of  subterranean  chambers  that  have  yet  been 
discovered,  all  lighted  by  one  large  hexagonal  shaft. 
They  were  evidently  excavated  for  worship,  not  for 
sepulture.  This  Catacomb  was  enlarged  and  beautified 
by  Mark,  bishop  of  Rome,  in  A,  D,  330,  ivho  was  buried 
in  a  basilica  erected  over  these  tombs. 

These  several  areas  were  at  first  all  distinct  properties, 
*  Afonumen,  Art.  Crist.  Prim.y  p.  172.  f  Page  95. 


.A 


The  Principal  Catacombs. 


183 


and  as  carefully  restricted  within  their  respective  limits 
as  would  be  buildings  above  ground.  When,  however, 
the  sepulchres  of  the  Christians,  no  longer  protected  by 
law,  were  invaded  by  the  persecutors,  the  different  areas 
were  connected  by  a  vast  and  bewildering  labyrinth  of 
cross  passages  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  escape  and 
of  furnishing  additional  space  for  interment.  As  the  areas, 
even  when  contiguous,  were  often  at  different  levels,  a 
good  deal  of  ingenuity  was  exercised  by  the  fossors  in 
effecting  a  junction  of  the  different  galleries;  though 
often  they  had  to  break  throug;\  loculi  and  cubicula  for 
that  purpose.  Thus  the  area  we  have  described  so  fully 
is  five  feet  lower  than  that  which  is  adjacent  on  one 
side,  which  enables  us  to  determine  its  exact  limit. 

We  will  now  take  a  more  rapid  survey  of  the  other 
principal  Catacombs  of  Rome. 

Nearly  opposite  ihe  cemetery  of  Callixtus,  on  the 
Appian  Way,  is  that  of  Praetextatus.  One  of  the  en- 
trances, situated  in  the  Vigna  Molinari,  is  represented 
in  Fig.  2.  A  well-worn  stairway,  trodden  by  the  feet  of 
pious  generations,  leads  to  subterranean  galleries  of 
considerable  extent.  It  is  celebrated  as  the  scene  of 
the  martyrdom  of  St.  Sixtus  and  his  deacons,  A.  D.  259; 
and  as  the  burial-place  of  two  of  them,  Felicitas  and 
Agapetus,  commemorative  epitaphs  of  whom  have  been 
found.  Their  tomb,  accidentally  discovered  by  some 
labourers  in  1857,  presents  the  unique  example  of  a  large 
square  crypt,  not  hewn  out  of  the  rock  but  built  of  solid 
masonry,  and  formerly  lined  with  marble.  This  is  ex- 
plained by  the  ancient  record  that  the  Christian  matron 
Marmenia  constructed  their  tomb  immediately  beneath 
her  own  house.  A  Damasine  epitaph  of  Januarius,  who 
suffered  under  Aurelius,  A.  D.  162,  has  also  been  found 
here.      In    this    cemetery,    too,    occurs    that    suite,    of 


'A 


1 84 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


i 


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I 

1    i 

t 

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i 

1 

'             1 

■ 

chambers,  with  a  hexagonal  apartment,  known  as  the 
chapel  with  two  halls,  represented  in  section  and  per- 
spective in  Figs.  lo  and  ii. 

Especial  interest  attaches  to  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Se- 
bastian from  the  fact  of  its  being  the  only  one  of  which 
any  knowledge  was  retained  during  the  darko.ir'^s  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  During  that  obscure  period  it  was  known 
in  all  the  ancient  documents  as  the  Civmeterium  ad  cata- 
cumbas,  and  has  given  their  generic  name  ;>  this  vast 
system  of  subterranean  sepulchres.  Lying  beneath  the 
property  of  the  Augustinian  monks,  it  enjoyed  religious 
protection  in  the  rudest  ages,  and  was  open  to  the  oc- 
casional pilgrims  to  the  sacred  places  of  the  Eternal 
City.  It  is  also  that  which  is  most  frequently  visited  by 
modern  crav^llers,  being  accessible  without  the  special 
permission  which  must  be  obtained  for  exploring  the 
other  Catacombs.  It  is  situated  on  the  Appian  Way, 
about  two  miles  from  the  Sebastian  gate.  A  stately 
basilica  was  erected  over  the  entrance  to  the  Catacomb, 
it  is  said  in  the  time  of  Constantine.  A  part  of  the 
original  building  which  yet  remains  is  claimed  to  be 
still  older,  dating  from  the  first  century.  Witl.  Jiis  pos- 
sible exception,  few  traces  of  the  ancient  structure  now 
exist,  the  present  building  having  been  erected  in  i6ii 
by  Cardinal  Scipio  Borghese.  The  church  is  very  rich 
in  paintings,  sculptures,  and  relics,  among  which  are  the 
reputed  head  of  Callixtus,  arm  of  St.  Andrew,  and  body 
of  St.  Sebastian,  the  impressions  of  the  Saviour's  feet 
in  the  stone  from  the  Appian  Way,  and  the  very  chair 
in  which  St,  Stephen  received  the  crown  of  martyrdom, 
and  which  was  sprinkled  with  his  blood  ! 

This  Catacomb  takes  its  name  from  the  Christian 
martyr  Sebastian,  who  suffered  during  the  Diocletian 
persecution.      The   story  of  his  martyrdom   is  one  of 


The  Principal  Catacombs, 


185 


great  beauty ;  but,  as  is  the  case  with  most  of  these 
legends,  its  historic  value  is  invalidated  by  the  miracu- 
lous episodes  of  his  history.  According  to  the  "  Acts 
of  St.  Sebastian,"  this  young  and  gallant  officer  was  a 
native  of  Narbonne,  in  (iaul,  who  held  the  high  rank 
of  commander  of  the  praetorian  guard  of  Diocletian 
and  Maximian.  His  access  to  the  emperors  enabled 
him  to  offer  a  powerful  protection  to  the  persecuted  Chris- 
tians, which  he  did  not  fail  to  extend.  Two  of  his  fellow- 
soldiers,  Marcus  and  Marcellinus,  were  ibout  to  recant 
their  profession,  when  Sebastian  exhorted  tUem  to  stead- 
fastness with  such  fer\  our  as  to  nerve  them  for  martyr- 
dom and  convert  the  judges  and  all  present.  For  his 
own  fidelity  to  the  Christian  faith  he  was  transpierced 
with  arrows  and  left  for  dead.  He  recovered,  however, 
either  through  the  pious  care  of  the  Christian  matron 
Irene,  or  through  the  special  grace  of  the  Virgin.  Un- 
deterred by  his  recent  experience,  he  presented  himself 
before  the  emperor,  upbraided  him  for  his  persecution 
of  the  Christians,  and  foretold  his  death.  He  was  im- 
mediately seized  by  the  command  of  the  tyrant  and 
beaten  to  death  with  clubs  in  the  hippodrome  of  the 
palace,  A.  D.  286.  His  body  was  ignominiously  thrown 
into  the  Cloaca  Maxima,  or  main  sewer  of  Rome,  in 
order  io  deprive  it  of  Christian  burial.  But  the  place 
where  it  lay  being  revealed  in  a  dream,  his  remains 
were  rescued  from  their  loathsome  and  unconsecrated 
grave,  and  piously  interred  in  the  Catacomb  which 
bears  his  name 

The  indignities  that  he  suffered  have  been  more  than 
compensated  by  the  honours  paid  his  relics.  Over  his 
tomb  the  high  altar  of  the  church  blazes  with  lights 
and  jewels,  and  a  marble  effigy  of  the  saint  pierced  with 
arrows  commemorates  his  martyrdom.     The  genius  of 


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Tfie  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


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Berini,  Guido,  and  the  Caracci,  has  glorified  his  memory 
in  deathless  painting  and  in  "  animated  bust."* 

Connected  with  the  church  is  an  irregular  semi-sub- 
terranean building,  where,  tradition  asserts,  the  bodies 
of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  for  a  time  reposed.  It  would  ap- 
pear, according  to  the  legend,  that  upon  the  martyrdom 
of  these  "  princes  of  the  apostles  "  the  oriental  Chris- 
tians sent  for  their  hallowed  remains  as  belonging  of 
right  to  them  as  their  fellow-countrymen.  Their  bodies 
were  conveyed  thus  far  from  their  original  sepulchres 
when  a  violent  storm  prevented  the  accomplishment  of 
the  sacrilegious  act,  and  the  Roman  Christians  re-interred 
the  sacred  relics  in  this  chamber,  where  they  remained, 
according  to  one  account,  a  year  and  seven  months,  or, 
according  to  another,  forty  years.  J-     \ 

The  present  structure  dates  probably  from  the  time 
of  Liberius,  in  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century.  The 
indefatigable  Damasus  made  a  marble  pavement— /^fr// 
platoniam — and  seems  to  refer  to  the  legend  in  the  fol- 
lowing rather  unclassical  metrical  inscription  : 

HIC   HABITASSE   PRIVS   SANCTOS  COGNOSCERE   DEBES 

NOMINA  QVISQVE   PETRI    PARTTKR   PAVLIQVE   REQVIRIS 

DISCIPVLOS  ORIENS   MISIT   QVOD   SPONTE  FATEMVR 

SANGVINIS  OB  MERITVM  CHRISTVMQVE  PER  ASTRA  SEQVVTI 

AETHERIOS   PETIERE   SINVS   ET   REGNA   PIORVM 

ROMA   SVOS   POTiVS   MERVIT   DEFENDERS  CIVES 

HAEC   DAMASVS   VESTRAS   REFERAT   NOVA   SIDERA   LAVDES. 

"  Here,  you  must  know,  that  saints  once  dwelt.     If  you  ask  their 

*  This  striking  object  of  Christian  art  has  been  known,  says  Mrs. 
Jameson,  to  cause  in  Italian  women  a  devotion  leading  to  hopeless  ^ 
passion,  madness,  and  death.    ("  Sacred  and  Legendary  Art,"  in  loco.) 
The  soldier  saint  is  regarded  as  a  sort  of  Christian  Apollo,  banishing 
disease  and  pestilence. 

f  Pope  Gregory  I.  first  mentions  the  story,  circ.  A.  D.  600,  as  a 
reason  for  refusing  to  send  the  head  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Empress 
Constantina.  » 


The  Principal  Catacombs, 


187 


namex,  they  were  Peter  and  Paul.  The  East  sent  disciples,  as  we 
willingly  acknowledge.  The  saints  themselves  had,  by  the  merit  of 
their  bloodshedding,  followed  Christ  to  the  stars,  and  sought  the  home 
of  heaven  and  the  kingdoms  of  the  blest.  Rome,  however,  obtained 
to  defend  her  own  citizens.  These  things  may  Damasus  be  allowed 
to  record  for  your  praise,  O  new  stars  of  the  heavenly  host 


Flff.  27.— Plan  of  Orypt  of  Saint  Peter  and  Saint  PauL 


Figs.  27  and  28  show  the  plan  and  perspective  of 
the  crypt.  D  is  the  chamber  and  E  the  subterranean 
vault.  Around  the  wall  are  twelve  arcosolia^  in  front 
of  which  runs  a  low  stone  seat.  In  the  centre  is  an 
opening  in  the  floor  widening  into  a  vaulted  and  fres- 
coed marble  tomb  about  six  feet  square  and  as  many 
deep.  Here,  according  to  tradition,  the  two  great 
apostles  lay  side  by  side  in  death  ;  and  to  this  spot  was 
especially  given  for  many  centuries  the  name  Catacumba. 

A  door  out  of  the  left  aisle  of  the  church  leads  to  the 
Catacomb  proper.  This^  having  been  so  long  open,  has 
been  despoiled  of  every  object  of  interest,  and  nearly 
all  the  monuments  and  inscriptions  have  been  removed 


1 88 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


i 


Fiff.  23.— Crypt  of  Saint  Peter  and  Saint  Paul. 

to  the  museums  of  the  city.  Though  of  considerable 
extent,  it  is  not  nearly  as  large  as  some  others.  Pre- 
vious to  De  Rossi's  exploration  of  the  Catacomb  of  Cal- 
lixtus  in  1854  it  was  confounded  with  that  cemetery, 
but  he  has  shown  that  opinion  to  be  erroneous.     • 

Nearly  opposite  the  church  of  St.  Sebastian  is  situ- 
ated the  Jewish  Catacomb  discovered  in  1859  in  the 
Vigna  Randanini,  and  already  in  part  described.  The 
principal  entrance  is  an  open  chamber,  originally  vaulted, 
with  a  floor  of  black  and  white  mosaic  and  walls  of 
masonry.  A  peculiarity  in  this  cemetery  is  the  number 
of  deep  graves  in  the  floor  capable  of  containing  sev- 
eral bodies,  and  the  number  of  sarcophagi,  some  of 
which  are  finely  carved  and  gilt.  The  seven-branched 
candlestick  frequently  occurs  on  the  walls  and  tombs. 
This  Catacomb  has  been  often  rifled,  and  the  gal- 
leries are  strewn  with  marble  fragments  of  its  monu- 


The  Principal  Catacombs. 


i?9 


ments.  Most  of  the  inscriptions  have  been  dug  out  of 
this  dhbris  and  affixed  to  the  adjacent  walls.  At  the 
other  entrance,  on  the  Appian  Way,  are  raised  stone 
seats,  intended,  it  is  thought,  as  resting-places  for  Khe 
bearers  of  the  dead. 

Not  far  from  this  cemetery,  but  fronting  on  the  Via 
Ardeatina,  is  one  which  De  Rossi  concludes  upon  very 
good  evidence  to  be  that  of  Domitilla,  grand  niece  of 
the  emperor  Domitian,  of  whose  banishment  and  prob- 
able martyrdom  for  the  Christian  faith  we  have  already 
spoken.  The  entrance  is  an  elegant  structure  of  fine 
brickwork  with  a  cornice  of  terra  cotta,  built  in  the 
slope  of  a  rising  ground  and  close  by  the  roadside. 
Connected  with  the  entrance  are  external  chambers,  in 
one  of  which  is  a  well,  which  were  designed,  it  is  con- 
jectured, for  the  custodian  of  the  Catacomb,  and  for 
the  holding  of  the  religious  services  connected  with  the 
burial  of  the  dead  and  the  anniversaries  of  the  martyrs. 
A  spacious  vestibule  within  contains  recesses  once  oc- 
cupied by  several  large  sarcophagi,  fragments  of  which 
still  remain.  The  entire  roof  and  walls  are  covered 
with  the  most  exquisite  arabesques  and  graceful  land- 
scapes, as  well  as  biblical  paintings,  in  the  style  of  the 
best  classic  period.  It  is  evidently  the  monument  of  a 
family  of  wealth  and  distinction. 

Connected  with  this  Catacomb  is  that  of  Nereus  and 
Achilles,  the  chamberlains  of  Domitilla,  who  suffered 
martyrdom  in  the  second  century.  A  broad  and  hand- 
some stairway  leads  down  to  the  supposed  tombs  of  the 
martyrs  in  the  lower  level  of  the  Catacomb.  To  facil- 
itate the  visits  of  pilgrims  to  these  shrines  the  galleries 
have  been  widened  and  lined  with  masonry,  probably 
by  John  I.,  A.  D.  523.  There  are  two  principal 
piani^    in    the    lower   of    which   is   a  large    chamber 


190 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


\ 


\ 


paved  with  marble  and  lighted  by  a  luminare  of  unusual 
size,  reaching  to  the  surface  of  the  ground.  A  l&rge 
proportion  of  the  inscriptions  are  Greek,  or  Latin  in 
Greek  characters,  which  circumstance  refers  the  date 
of  this  Catacomb  to  a  period  when  Greek  was  still  re- 
garded as  a  sort  of  sacred  and  official  language  of  the 
church. 

On  the  Via  Labicana  are  several  interesting  Cata- 
combs. About  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  city  is  that 
of  Feter  and  Marcellinus,  the  former  a  priest  and  the 
latter  an  exorcist  of  the  time  of  Diocletian,  who  with 
other  martyrs  are  said  to  be  buried  here.  The  entrance 
to  the  Catacomb  is  from  a  church  built  in  the  ruins  of 
the  ancient  structure  traditionally  called  the  mausoleum 
of  Helena. 

This  tradition  has  given  its  name  to  the  interesting 
Catacomb  of  Helena  discovered  in  1838  in  the  Vigna 
del  Grande,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  further  along  the 
Via  Labacana.  It  was  evidently  constructed  after  the 
peace  of  the  church.  The  marble  stairway,  mosaic 
pavements,  and  elegant  stucco  ornaments  betray  an 
imperial  magnificence 'impossible  during  the  age  of  per- 
secution, and  which  is  found  in  no  other  Catacomb. 
The  similarity  of  style  and  material  to  that  of  the  con- 
tiguous tomb  of  Constantia,  the  sister  of  Helena,  indi- 
cates a  synchronous  construction.  The  entrance  to  the 
Catacomb  is  by  one  of  those  brevissinuB  eccUsia^  or  ora- 
tories for  meditation  and  prayer,  which  were  early  erected 
near  most  of  the  cemeteries,  now  generally  in  ruins. 
As  shown  in  the  illustration,  the  descent  is  by  an  easy 
stairway  and  an  inclined  plane  to  a  vaulted  gallery  with 
mosaic  pavement,  in  which  are  arcosolia  with  brick  arch- 
es. The  galleries  are  of  great  width,  and  the  luminari  will 
be  observed  to  be  cylindrical  in  shape.     One  of  these, 


The  Principal  Catacombs, 


191 


it  will  be  seen,  is  choked  with  rubbish.  The  double 
entrance  indicated  is  in  accordance  with  the  ancient 
usage,  especially  in  subterranean  assemblies,  of  separat- 
ing the  sexes.     The  same  purpose  is  effected  within  the 


Flff.  29.-Sectlon  of  Oataoomb  of  Helena. 


crypt  by  balustrades,  and  even  by  parallel  galleries 
to  the  same  chamber.  This  Catacomb  is  remarkable 
for  the  number  of  its  luminari,  arcosolia^  cubicula^  and 
mosaics.  A  variety  of  marble,  glass,  and  terra  cotta 
vases  have  also  been  found,  as  well  as  numerous  coins 
and  medals  of  the  Constantinian  period. 

About  three  miles  from  Rome  on  this  road,  in  the 
Vigna  del  Fiscale,  is  the  Catacomb  of  1  Santi  QuairOy  or 
Quatuor  Coronati^  the  Four  Crowned  Ones,  as  they  are 
called.  They  are  said  to  have  been  Christian  sculptors, 
who,  for  refusing  to  exercise  their  art  in  the  service  of 
idolatry,  suffered  martyrdom  under  Diocletian.  Iron 
crowns,  set  with  spikes,  were  forced  upon  their  heads, 
and  they  were  then  scourged  to  death  with  plumbata. 
Ten  miles  from  Rome  in  this  same  road  is  the  Cata- 
comb of  St.  Zoticus,  also  honoured  as  one  of  the  prim- 
itive martyrs. 

On  the  Via  Tibuitina,  about  ten  minutes'  walk  from 
the  Porta  di  San  Lorenzo,  is  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Cyriaca, 
named  after  a  Christian  matron  of  noble  family,  who 
founded  it  in  her  own  land  in  the  year  A.  D.  258.     Dur- 


192 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


ing  the  thirty-two  years  of  her  widowhood  she  employed 
her  vast  wealth  in  ministering  to  the  necessities  of  the 
saints,  and  finally  herself  received  the  crown  of  martyr- 
dom. Here  it  is  said  the  body  of  St.  Lawrence  was  first 
interred,  and  afterward  removed  to  the  neighbouring 
church,  where  it  is  still  revered  with  devout  superstition. 
The  excavations  made  to  insulale  the  ancient  basilica 
of  San  Lorenzo,  and  to  enlarge  the  cemetery  at  present 
in  use,  have  laid  open  a  number  of  galleries  cf  this 
Catacomb,  exposing  the  long  hidden  hculi  and  paintings 
to  the  light  of  day.  The  style  of  the  ancient  inscrip- 
tions and  those  of  the  modern  necropolis,  which,  in  ac- 
cordance with  a  decree  of  the  pope,  are  all  in  Latin, 
may  be  compared ;  not  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the 
latter,  notwithstanding  the  rigorous  censorship  they 
must  first  undergo.  This  Catacomb,  with  others,  wa"  ex- 
plored and  described  by  Bosio  two  centuries  and  a  half 
ago.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  is  the  cemetery 
of  Hippolytus,  commemorated  in  the  verses  of  Pruden- 
tius  ir  the  fourth  century. 

About  a  mile  and  a  quarter  from  the  Porta  Pia,  on  the 
Via  Nomentana,  is  siiuated  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Agnes. 
The  legend  of  this  saint  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in 
the  martyrology,  and  has  been  preserved  with  peculiar 
fulness  of  detail  by  St.  Ambrose  in  his  treMise  de  Vir- 
ginil'us.  The  youthful  martyr  was  the  daughter  of  rich 
and  noble  Roman  parents,  and  is  described  in  the  Acts 
that  bear  her  name  as  being  of  a  sweet  and  tender 
beauty.  Being  sought  in  marriage  by  the  son  of  the  pre- 
fect of  the  city,  she  rejected  his  suit;  declaring  in  a 
strain  of  impassioned  eloquence  her  espousals  to  a  bride- 
groom nobler,  richer,  and  more  beautiful  far  than  any 
of  earth,  who  had  betrothed  her  by  the  ring  of  his  faith 
and  would  crown  her  v/ith  jewels  to  which  earthly  gifts 


The  Principal  Catacombs. 


193 


were  dross — a  bridegroom  so  fair  that  the  sun  and 
moon  were  ravished  by  his  beauty,  and  so  mighty  that 
the  angels  were  his  servants.*  She  thus  betrayed  her 
attachment  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  was  forthwith 
put  to  the  torture  in  order  to  compel  her  recantation  of 
the  faith.  With  touching  naivet't  the  Acts  relate  that  no 
fetters  could  be  found  small  enough  for  her  wrists.  As 
the  crowning  ignominy  to  which  her  maiden  modesty 
could  be  exposed,  she  was  sent  to  the  place  of  shame — 
ad  locum  turpitudinis ;  but  her  unshorn  hair  flowed  in 
golden  waves  to  her  fee':,  forming  a  perfect  veil,  and 
the  eyes  of  the  gazers  on  her  degradation  were  smitten 
with  blindness.  Having  been  first  cast  into  the  flames, 
which,  it  is  said,  played  harmlessly  about  her,  she  was 
publicly  beheaded  in  the  amphitheatre,  and  overcom- 
ing the  feebleness  of  her  age  and  sex,  thus  received  the 
crown  of  martyrdom  at  the  tender  age  of  thirteen, 
A.  D.  303.1 

*  Discede  a  me  fomes  peccati  .  .  .  quia  jam  ab  alio  amatore  prae- 
venta  sum,  qui  mihi  satis  meliora  obtulit  omamenta,  et  annulo  fidei 
suae  subarravit  me,  longe  te  nobilior,  et  genere  et  dignitatc. — Ambros., 
£pis.  34. 

T  Damasus  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  thus  commemorates  the 
event  in  one  of  his  metrical  inscriptions,  now  in  a  lateral  aisle  of  the 
basilica  of  S.  Agnese  fuoH  le  Mura  : 

FAMA  REFERT  SANCT03  DVDVM  RETVLISSE  PARENTES 
AGNEN  CVM  LVGVBRES  CANTVS  TVBA  CONCREPVISSET 
NVTRICIS  GREMIVM  SVBITO    LIQVISSE    PVELLAM 
SPONTE  TRVCIS  CALCASSE  MINAS  RABIEMQVE  TVRANNI 
VRERE  CVM  FLAMMIS  VOLVISSET  NOBILE  CORPVS 
VIRABVS  IMMENSVM  PARVIS  SVPERASSE  TIMOREM 
NVDAQVE  PROFVSVM  CRINEM  PER  MEMBRA  DEDISSE 
NE  DOMINI  TEMPLVM  FACIES  PERItVRA  VIDERET 
O  VENERANDA  MIHI  SANCTVM  DECVS  ALMA  PVDORIS 
VT  DAMASI  PRECIBVS  FAVEAS  PRECOR  INCLVTA  MARTYR. 

"  Fame  reports  that  the  pious  parents  formerly  brought  back  Agnes 
when  the  trumpet  had  resounded  the  funeral  chants ;  that  suddenly 

13 


194 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


' 


\    i 


\     \ 


She  is  frequently  represented  in  art;  sometimes,  in 
allusion  to  her  name,  with  a  lamb  as  her  attribute.  In- 
deed, after  Christ  and  the  Apostles,  no  figure  is  more 
common.*  The  den  of  infamy  in  which  she  was  exposed 
to  shame  became  changed  to  the  Christian  sanctuary  of 
S.  Agnese  in  Piazza  Navone^  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful churches  in  Rome.  A  subterranean  cell  of  peculiar 
sanctity  is  said  to  have  been  the  scene  of  her  degrada- 
tion and  deliverance.  She  was  buried  in  a  garden  a 
mile  from  the  city,  and  Constantia,  the  daughter  of  Con- 
stantine,  having  been  healed  at  her  tomb  of  a  danger- 
ous malady,  that  prince  erected  over  her  body  the  churcli 
of  S.  Agtiese  fuori  le  Mura^  which  is  one  of  the  least 
altered  and  most  beautiful  examples  of  the  imperial 
basilicas.  A  long  flight  of  stairs,  whose  walls  are  cov- 
ered with  inscriptions  from  the  adjacent  Catacombs, 
leads  down  to  the  church,  which  was  constructed  on  a 
level  with  the  reputed  tomb  of  the  saint.f 

Many  noble  Roman  families  chose  the  place  of  their 
sepulture  near  the  tomb  of  so  illustrious  a  martyr.    Con- 

the  maidem  left  the  bosom  of  her  nurse,  and  willingly  spumed  the 
threats  and  rage  of  the  cruel  tyrant,  when  he  resolved  to  bom  her 
noble  body  in  the  flames ;  that  she  overcame  her  intense  fear  with 
her  feeble  strength,  and  spread  her  luxuriant  hair  over  her  naked 
limbs,  lest  the  face  of  a  perishing  man  might  behold  the  temple  of 
the  \joxA.  O  holy  one,  ever  to  be  honoured  by  me,  sacred  ornament 
of  modesty,  illustrious  martyr,  I  entreat  that  you  aid  the  prayers  of 
Pamasus." 

*  Jameson,  Sac.  and  Leg.  Art.,  p.  381.  According  to  St.  Jerome, 
in  the  fourth  century  her  fame  was  in  all  lands. 

f  Here  on  the  Festival  of  St.  Agnes,  January  21,  is  performed  the 
ceremony  of  blessing  two  lambs,  the  emblems  of  the  innocence  and 
of  the  name — Agnus,  a  lamb — of  the  child-martyr.  From  the  wool 
of  these  lambs  are  woven  the  pallia,  which,  after  lying  on  the  so- 
called  tomb  of  St.  Peter,  are  distributed  by  the  pope  to  the  great 
church  dignitaries  as  emblems  of  office. 


Tin:  Principal  Catacombs. 


195 


stantia  herself  was  there  interred,  and  soon  after  two 
other  driughters  of  Constantine,  Helena,  the  wife  of 
Julian,  and  Constantina,  the  wifeof  (talliis.  Having  died, 
the  former  at  Vienne  in  Gaul,  the  latter  at  the  extremity 
of  Kithynia,  they  were  brought  from  the  west  and  the  east 
to  rejoin  their  sister  sleeping  near  this  celebrated  saint. 
This  region  became,  in  fact,  the  fashionable  cemetery 
of  the  great  during  the  fourth  century ;  as  is  still  evi- 
dent from  the  superior  regularity  and  spaciousness  of 
the  corridors,  and  the  more  laboured  execution  although 
inferior  style  of  the  paintings.  Thus  was  formed  in 
course  of  time  the  vast  Catacomb  of  St.  Agnes. 


Fiff.  30.— Entrance  to  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Affnes. 


The  entrance  to  the  cemetery  is  situated  in  a  deli- 
cious valley  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  church,  in 
view  of  the  storied  hills  which  have  been  celebrated  by 
Martial  and  Pliny,  and  near  the  ruins  of  a  pagan  temple. 
Behind  are  the  gray  walls  and  towirs  of  Rome,  and  on 
every  side  spreads  the  solemn  expanse  of  the  Campagna. 


196 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


All  is  gfAccfuI  and  pirturesque  in  the  landicapc,  "  and 
it  is  not,"  says  Pcrret,  *'  without  a  pious  tenderness*  that 
the  charm  of  the  place  blends  in  the  soul  of  the  pilgrim 
to  the  shrine  of  the  Christian  heroine."  The  stairs  by 
whi  -h  the  descent  is  made  date  proba!)ly  from  the  time 
of  Constantinc.  The  graves  on  either  side  of  the  some- 
what spacious  gallery  have  long  been  rifled  of  their 
contents.  Several  of  these  from  their  size  were  evi- 
dently designed  for  bisomi.  The  consular  date,  A.  D. 
336,  on  a  tomb  attests  the  age  of  this  part  of  the  Cata- 
comb. One  suite  of  chambers  near  the  entrance,  but  in 
the  lower  and  therefore  more  recently  constructed  piano., 
has  received  the  title  of  the  Basilica.  The  larger  r/^^/Vi^- 
lum  has  two  tufa  seats  at  the  side,  and  one  more  elevated 
for  the  presiding  presbyter.  The  altar,  probably  a  small 
movable  one  of  wood,  if  any  at  all,  must  have  stood  before 
the  presbyter.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  gallery  is  a 
chamber,  divided  by  columns  and  an  arch,  supposed  to 
have  been  for  the  females  of  the  assembly,  or  perhaps 
for  the  catechumens  not  yet  admitted  to  the  celebration 
of  the  eucharist.  A  connected  series  of  five  chambers  has 
been  found,  and  one  cuhiculum^  called  the  scuoU  grande^ 
will  contain  seventy  or  eighty  persons.  Much  of  the 
architecture,  however,  is  debased,  indicating  the  de- 
cline and  eclipse  of  art  in  the  fifth  or  sixth  century. 
Another  chamber  is  known  as  the  Lady  Chapel,  or 
Crypt  of  the  Virgin,  on  account  of  the  so-called 
picture  of  the  Madonna  which  it  contains ;  f  and  a 
third  as  the  Baptistery,  from  the  presence  of  a  spring) 
of  water,  supposed  to  have  been  used  in  baptismal' 
rites. 

One  feature  of  especial  interest  associated  with  this 

♦" Attend rissement." — I^s  Catacombes  dt  Rome,  torn,  ii,  p.  52. 
f  Set  Fig.  90. 


The  Principal  Catacombs. 


197 


cemetery  is  its  connexion  with  an  adjacent  arenanum^ 
or  sand  pit.  This  is  situated  near  the  basilica  of  St. 
Agnes,  and  overlies  part  of  the  Catacomb.  It  consists 
of  a  series  of  large  and  gloomy  caverns  utterly  unlike  the 
sepulchral  crypts  below.  A  stairway  leads  down  to  the 
Catacomb,  and  also  a  deep  shaft  with  foot-holes  cut  in 
the  rock  for  climbing.  Probably  this  was  the  only  way 
of  escape  in  time  of  persecution.  There  is  also  ap- 
parent evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  windlass,  by  which 
the  excavated  tufa  was  raised,  and  either  deposited  in 
the  arenarium  or  carted  away.  This  cemetery  has  been 
carefully  examined  by  Padre  Marchi,  who  has  published 
a  plan  of  an  area  of  about  seven  hundred  by  five  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet.  The  united  length  of  the  passages 
in  this  part  is  about  two  English  miles.  Yet  Father 
Marchi  says  this  area  is  only  about  one  eighth  of  ih* 
whole  Catacomb,  the  aggregate  extent  of  whose  streets 
would,  therefore,  be  fifteen  or  sixteen  miles. 

Just  without  the  Porta  Pia  on  this  Nomentan  Way,  is 
the  little  Catacomb  of  Nicodemus.  At  the  third  mile, 
we  read  in  ancient  records,  was  that  of  Ostrianus  or 
P'ons  Petri,  as  it  was  called,  from  a  tradition  that  Peter 
once  baptized  there.  It  has  not,  however,  been  satis- 
factorily identified.  Nearly  six  miles  from  the  city  is 
the  so-called  Catacomb  of  Alexander,  bishop  of  Rome 
A.  D.  1 1 7-1 20,  who,  according  to  the  Liber  PontificaliSy 
suffered  martyrdom  by  decapitation  on  this  spot  under 
the  emperor  Hadrian,  together  with  the  presbyter  Even- 
tius  and  the  deacon  Theodulus.  Here  were  discovered 
in  1853,  below  the  level  of  the  Campagna,  the  ruins  of 
an  ancient  basilica  erected  in  honour  of  these  martyrs. 
In  the  roofless  structure  was  found  a  sarcophagus  bear- 
ing the  name  of  Alexander,  and  probably  once  contain- 
ing his  ashes.     The  graves  here  are  less  disturbed  than 


I 


198 


The  Caiacomhs  of  Rome. 


in  the  Catacombs  nearer  Rome.  This  cemetery  was 
used  for  sepulture  comparatively  late,  as  the  language  of 
some  of  the  inscriptions  indicates  a  decided  approxima- 
tion to  modern  Italian.  In  1857  the  foundations  of  a 
large  church,  designed  to  include  the  whole  of  the  an- 
cient structure,  were  laid  with  great  pomp  by  the  present 
pontiff. 

The  Salarian  Way  is  exceedingly  rich  in  Christian 
cemeteries.  Prominent  among  these  is  the  Catacomb 
of  St.  Priscilla,  one  of  the  noblest  monuments  of  the 
primitive  church.  It  is  of  interest  also  as  that  whose 
accidental  discovery  in  1578  led  to  the  unveiling  of  these 
vast  treasuries  of  Christian  antiquity.  The  entrance  is 
beautifully  situated  amid  embowering  verdure,  in  the 
vineyard  of  the  Irish  college,  about  two  miles  from  the 
Porta  Salara.*  Tradition  asserts  that  this  cemetery  was 
dug  in  the  property  of  the  senator  Pudens,  mentioned 
by  St.  Paul ,  and  a  crypt  called,  from  the  language  of 
its  inscript'ons,  the  Cappella  Greca^  is  alleged  to  be  the 
sepulchre  of  his  daughters  Pudentiana  and  Praxedes, 
and  other  members  of  that  distinguished  Christian  fam- 
ily. If  so,  this  is  the  most  ancient  Catacomb  yet  dis- 
covered. The  classical  style  of  the  architecture,  fres- 
coes, graceful  stucco  reliefs,  and  garlands,  and  the 
character  of  the  inscriptions,  all  point  to  a  period  before 
art  became  degraded  and  the  church  oppressed.  Some 
of  the  galleries  are  exceedingly  long  and  straight,  and 
one  is  the  most  extensive  yet  discovered.  Its  prin- 
cipal crypt  is  remarkable  as  being  regularly  built  of 
masonry,  and  without  the  usual  loculi  in  the  walls,  being 
evidently  designed  for  the  reception  of  sarcophagi — 
another  proof  of  its  high  antiquity.  A  portion  of  this 
cemetery  has  been  constructed  with  great  labour  in  an 

*  See  Fig.  i. 


The  Principal  Catacombs. 


199 


ancient  arenariumy  and  shows  how  unsuited  these  exca» 
vations  were  for  the  purposes  of  Christian  sepulture. 
Long  ^alls  of  solid  masonry  and  numerous  pillars 
of  brick  work  have  been  built  for  supporting  the 
roof  and  giving  space  for  loculi.  A  large  shaft  for  re- 
moving pozzolana  has  been  transformed  into  a  luminare 
by  being  bricked  up  to  about  half  its  original  dimen- 
sions. Only  one  of  the  four  piani  in  which  the  Cata- 
comb is  constructed  being  easily  accessible,  it  has  been 
but  partially  explored.  The  ancient  records  assert  that 
Marcel!inus  and  Marcellus,  martyr-bishops  of  the  church 
in  the  time  of  Diocletian,  are  buried  here ;  also  Crescen- 
tianus  and  Silvester;  and  we  have  already  seen  the 
memorial  inscription  of  three  thousand  other  martyrs, 
whose  remains  are  said  to  hallow  these  sacred  crypts. 

On  this  same  road  are  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Felicitas, 
with  three  piani  of  galleries  much  dilapidated  ;  that  of 
Thraso  and  Saturninus,  of  considerable  extent  but  diffi- 
cult of  access ;  and  the  crypt  of  Chrysanthus  and  Da- 
ria,  in  which  these  martyrs  were  blocked  up  alive  by 
command  of  the  Emperor  Numerian.  On  the  old  Sala- 
rian  Way  is  the  Catijcomb  of  Hermes,  who  is  said  to 
have  suffered  in  the  time  of  Hadrian.  It  is  parbr  Uy 
const/ucted,  as  we  have  seen,  in  an  arenarium^  and  con- 
tains the  largest  subterranean  church  yet  found,  with 
remarkable  mosaics  of  Daniel  and  of  the  resurrection  of 
Lazarus  in  the  vaulting  of  the  roof. 

There  are  comparatively  few  Catacombs  of  interest  on 
the  northwest  bank  of  the  Tiber,  owing  to  the  smaller  pop- 
ulation of  that  part  of  Rome  in  ancient  times.  We  shall 
briefly  enumerate  the  more  hnportant.  On  the  Flaminian 
Way  is  the  cemetery  of  St.  Valentinus.  On  the  Aure- 
lian  Way  are  those  of  Agatha,  Pancratius,  and  Calepo- 
dius.     The  latter,  the  reputed  burial  place  of  Callixtus 


200 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\ 


\    i 


\ 


and  of  many  martyrs,  is  beneath  the  church  dedicated 
to  Pancratius — the  English  Pancras — and  on  the  sup- 
posed scene  of  his  sufferings.  On  the  Via  Portuensis, 
near  the  city,  is  the  Catacomb  of  Pontianus,  a  patrician 
Roman  of  the  third  century.  It  is  remarkable  for  the 
very  perfect  subterranean  baptistery  to  be  hereafter  de- 
scribed. On  the  Ostian  Way,  near  the  basilica  of  S. 
Paolo  fuori  le  Mura^  is  the  ancient  cemetery  of  Commo- 
dilla,  or  Lucina,  in  which  tradition  asserts  that  the  body 
of  the  apostle  Paul  was  laid  after  his  martyrdom.  It 
is  in  a  very  ruinous  condition,  most  of  the  galleries  be- 
ing choked  up  and  impassable ;  but  here  Boldetti  found 
the  two  oldest  extant  inscriptions.     On  this  road  also  is 

« 

the  Catacomb  of  St.  Zeno,  in  which  were  said  to  be 
buried  twelve  thousand  Christians  employed  in  building 
the  Baths  of  Diocletian. 

On  the  Vatican  Hill,  now  crowned  with  the  grandest 
temple  in  Christenaom,  is  said  to  have  existed  the  old- 
est Christian  cemetery  of  Rome.  Tradition  asserts  that 
the  remains  of  St.  Peter  were  interred  on  this  spot,  on  the 
site  of  an  ancient  temple  of  Apollo,  and  near  the  alleged 
scene  of  the  apostle's  martyrdom  in  the  circus  of  Nero, 
and  that  hither  they  were  restored  after  their  removal  to 
the  crypt  of  Sebastian.*  Here  also  ancient  ecclesiastical 
documents  record  the  burial  of  ten  of  the  Roman 
bishops  of  the  first  and  second  centuries ;  f  after  which, 
we  have  seen,  the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus  became  their 

*  This  is  probably  "  the  trophy  on  the  Vatican,"  mentioned  by 
the  Roman  presbyter  Caius,  quoted  by  Eusebius,  Hist,  Eccles.^  ii,  25. 
When  Heliogabalus  made  his  cii-cus  on  the  Vatican  the  body  was  said 
to  have  been  again  transferred  to  St.  Sebastian  ;  but  it  is  impossible  to 
unravel  the  tangled  accounts  of  the  ancient  documents. 

f  On  this  spot  De  Rossi  says  was  discovered  in  the  seventeenth 
century  the  sepulchre  of  the  very  first  bishop  after  Peter,  (?)  bearing 
simpiv  the  name  LINVS. 


The  Ptincipal  Catacombs. 


201 


chief  place  of  burial.  The  series  of  papal  interments 
in  this  place  again  begins  with  that  of  Leo  the  Great, 
A.  D.  461.  In  the  dim  crypts  beneath  the  high  altar 
of  St.  Peter's  are  shown  the  tombs  of  most  of  his  suc- 
cessors, many  of  them  far  removed  in  life  and  character 
from  the  lowly  Galilean  fisherman.* 

We  cannot  better  conclude  this  necessarily  imperfect 
survey  of  these  ancient  Christian  cemeteries  than  by 
quoting  the  following  passage,  though  characterized  by 
a  somewhat  fervid  rhetoric,  from  "  Les  Trois  Romes  " 
of  the  Abb6  Gaume  :  "  Here  is  the  glorious  monument," 
he  exclaims,  "of  the  faith  and  charity  of  our  fore- 
fathers !  This  work  of  giants  was  completed  by  a  com- 
munity of  poor  men,  destitute  of  resources,  without  talent 
as  without  fortune,  incessantly  persecuted  and  frequently 
decimated.  What,  then,  was  the  secret  of  their  power? 
This  is  the  problem  suggested  by  the  sight  of  the  Cata- 
combs in  general,  and  of  the  Catacombs  on  the  Appian 
Way  in  particular.  The  solution  is  in  one  word — 
Faith.     This  power — unknown   to  the  ancient  world, 

*  Of  especial  interest  to  English-speaking  visitors  lo  this  shrine  of 
departed  greatness  will  be  three  urns  containing  the  ashes  of  "  James 
III.,"  "Charles  III.,"  and  "  Henry  IX.,"  as  they  are  designated,  the 
last  princes  of  the  unfortunate  house  of  Stewart.  The  third  of  these, 
Henry  Benedict  Maria  Clement,  second  son  of  James  the  Pretender, 
took  orders  at  Rome,  was  advanced  to  the  purple,  and  during  the  life- 
time of  his  brother,  Charles  Edward,  was  known  as  Cardinal  York. 
On  the  death  of  his  brother  he  assumed  the  regal  style  of  Henry  IX., 
King  of  England.  The  usuqiation  of  Bonaparte  caused  his  flight  to 
Venice,  where,  aged  and  infirm,  the  descendant  of  a  line  of  kings 
sank  into  absolute  poverty.  His  successful  rival  for  the  British 
throne,  George  III.,  learning  his  deplorable  situation,  generously  set- 
tled on  him  an  annuity  of  ;^4,ooo,  which  he  enjoyed  till  his  d^ath  in 
1807,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two.  With  the  worn  old  man,  dying  upon 
a  foreign  shore,  passed  away  the  last  survivor  of  the  ill-starred  dy- 
nasty which  has  contributed  through  successive  generations  so  many 
tragic  and  romantic  episodes  to  the  drama  of  history. 


I 


202 


TIu  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


and  too  little  recognized  in  the  modern  world — this  faith, 
was  the  lever  by  which  the  early  Christians  could  re- 
move mountains,  and  turn  and  change  the  universe. 
With  one  hand  they  constructed  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  a  city  more  astonishing  than  Babylon  or  the 
Rome  of  xhe  Caesars;  and  with  the  other,  seizing  on 
the  pagart  world  in  the  abyss  of  degradation  into  which 
it  was  pltnged,  they  raised  it  to  the  virtue  of  angels, 
and  suspended  it  to  the  cross." 


j 


BOOK  SECOI^D. 


THB  ART  AND  SYMBOLISM  OF  THE  CATACOMBa 


CHAPTER    I. 


EARLY  CHRISTIAN  ART. 

The  conditions  ynder  which  Christian  art  was  culti- 
vated in  the  early  centuries  were  eminently  unfavourable 
to  its  highest  development.  It  was  not,  like  pagan  art, 
the  aesthetic  exponent  of  a  dominant  religion,  enjoying 
the  patronage  of  the  great  and  the  wealthy,  adorning 
the  numerous  temples  of  the  gods  and  the  palaces  and 
banquet  chambers  of  the  emperors  and  senators,  com- 
memorating the  virtues  of  patriots  and  heroes,  and  body- 
ing forth  the  conceptions  of  poets  and  seers.  There 
was  no  place  in  the  Christian  system  for  such  repre-' 
sentations  as  the  glorious  sun-god,  Apollo,  or  the  lovely 
Aphrodite,  or  the  sublime  majesty  of  Jove,  which  are 
still  the  unapproached  chefs  {foeuvre  of  the  sculptor's 
skill.  The  beautiful  myths  of  Homer  and  Hesiod  were 
regarded  with  abhorrence,  and  the  Christians  were  ex- 
pressly forbidden  to  make  any  representation  of  the 
supreme  object  of  their  worship,  prohibition  which  in 
the  early  and  purer  days  of  Christianity  they  never 
transgressed. 

Nevertheless,  the  testimony  of  the  Catacombs  gives 
evidence  that  art  was  not,  as  has  been  frequently  as- 
serted, entirely  abjured  by  the  primitive  Christians  on 
account  of  its  idolatrous  employment  by  the   pagans. 


204 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\ 

\   - 
I 


They  rather  adopted  and  purified  it  for  Christian  pur- 
poses, just  as  they  did  the  diverse  elements  of  ancient 
civilization.  It  was  not  till  increasing  wealth  and  the 
growing  corruptions  of  the  church  led  to  the  more  lav- 
ish employment  of  art  and  its  perversion  to  superstitious 
uses  that  it  called  forth  the  condemnation  of  the  Fathers 
of  the  early  centuries. 

The  art  of  any  people  is  an  outgrowth  and  efflores- 
cence of  an  internal  living  principle  :  and  as  is  the 
tree  so  is  its  fruit.  An  adequate  representation  of  its  art 
being  given,  we  may  estimate,  at  least  proximately,  the 
moral  condition  of  any  age  or  community.  It  is  the 
perennial  expression  of  the  phenomena  of  humanity. 
The  iconography  of  the  early  centuries  of  Christian- 
ity is,  therefore,  a  pictorial  history  of  its  develop- 
meat  and  of  the  successive  changes  it  has  under- 
fone.*  The  corruptions  of  doctrine,  the  rise  of  dog- 
mas, the  strifes  of  heresiarchs  and  schismatics,  are  all 
reflected  therein,  f 

The  frescoes  of  the  Catacombs  are  illustrations,  in- 
estimable in  value,  of  the  pure  and  lofty  character  of 
that  primitive  Christian  life  of  which  they  were  the  off*- 
spring.  They  were  the  exponent  of  a  mighty  spiritual 
force,  "  seeking,"  as  Kugler  remarks,  "  to  typify  in  the 
earthly  and  perishing  the  abiding  and  eternal."!  The 
very  intensity  of  that  old  Christian  life  under  repression 
and  persecution  created  a  more  imperious  necessity  for 
a  religious  symbolism  as  an  expression  of  its  deepest 
feelings  and  as  a  commor^  sign  of  the  faith.     Early  Chris- 

*  M.  Didron's  Iconographie  Chrktienru  is  a  valuable  contribution 
on  this  important  subject 

f  In  the  beautiful  figure  of  Pressens^,  all  art  is  an  iColian  harp, 
shivering  with  the  breezes  that  pass  over  it. 

\  Ilandbuch  der  Kunstgeschichte,  p.  xii. 


Early  Christian  Art, 


205 


tian  art,  therefore,  was  not  realistic  and  sensuous,  but 
ideal  and  spiritual.  It  sought  to  express  the  inner  es- 
sence, not  the  outer  form. 

Christianity  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the  comparison 
of  these  remains  of  its  primitive  art  with  those  of  the 
pre-existing  art  of  paganism.  As  little  has  Protestantism 
to  fear  their  comparison  with  the  monuments  of  that  de- 
based form  of  Christianity  into  which  the  early  church 
so  soon,  alas !  degenerated.  On  the  one  hand  may  be 
seen  the  infinite  contrast  between  the  abominable  con- 
dition of  society  under  the  empire  and  the  purity  of  life 
of  the  early  Christians ;  and  on  the  other,  the  gradual 
corruption  of  doctrine  and  practice  as  we  approach  the 
Byzantine  age.  The  exhumation  of  Pompeii  and  the 
recent  exploration  of  the  Catacombs  bring  into  sharp 
contrast  Christian  and  pagan  art.  While  traversing  the 
deserted  chambers  of  the  former  "  two  thousand  years 
roil  backward,"  and  we  stand  among  the  objects  familiar 
to  the  gaze  of  the  maids  and  matrons  of  the  palmy  days 
of  Rome.  But  what  a  tale  of  the  prevailing  sensuality, 
what  a  practical  commentary  on  the  scathing  sarcasms 
of  Juvenal,  the  denunciations  of  the  Fathers,  and  the 
awful  portraiture  of  St.  Paul,  do  we  read  in  the  polluting 
pictures  on  every  side.  Nothing  gives  a  more  vivid 
conception  of  the  appalling  degradation  of  pagan  society 
in  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era  than  the  disin- 
terred art  of  that  Roman  Sodom.  Amid  the  silence  and 
gloom  of  the  Catacombs  we  are  transported  to  an  en- 
tirely different  world  ;  we  breathe  a  purer  moral  atmos- 
phere ;  we  are  surrounded  by  the  evidences  of  an 
infinitely  nobler  social  life;  we  are  struck  with  the 
immeasurable  superiority  in  all  the  elements  of  true 
dignity  and  grandeur  of  the  lowly  and  persecuted  Chris- 
tians to  the  highest  development  of  ancient  civilization. 


206 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


The  decoration  c  '  these  subterranean  crypts  is  the 
first  employment  of  art  by  the  early  Christians  of  which 
we  have  any  remains.  A  universal  instinct  leads  us  to 
beautify  the  sepulchres  of  the  departed.  This  is  seen 
alike  in  the  rude  funeral  totem  of  the  American  savage, 
in  the  massive  mausolea  of  the  Appian  Way,  and  in  the 
magnificent  Moorish  tombs  of  the  Alhambra.*  It  is 
not,  therefore,  remarkable  that  the  primitive  Curistians 
adorned  with  religious  paintings,  expressive  of  their  faith 
and  hope,  the  graves  of  the  dead,  or  in  times  of  persecu- 
tion traced  upon  the  martyr's  tomb  the  crown  and  palm, 
emblems  of  victory,  or  the  dove  and  olive  branch,  the 
beautiful  symbol  of  peace.  It  must  not,  however,  be 
supposed  that  the  first  beginnings  of  Christian  art  were 
rude  and  formless  essays,  such  as  we  see  among  bar- 
barous tribes.  The  primitive  believers  had  not  so  much 
to  create  the  principles  of  art  as  to  adapt  an  art  already 
fully  developed  to  the  expression  of  Christian  thought. 
Like  the  neophyte  converts  from  heathenism,  pagan  art 
had.  to  be  baptized  into  the  service  of  Christianity. 
"  The  germs  of  a  new  life,"  says  Dr.  Liibke,  "  were  in 
embryo  in  the  dying  antique  world.  Ancient  art  was  the 
garment  in  which  the  young  and  world-agitating  ideas 
of  Christianity  were  compelled  to  veil  themselves."  f 
Kence  the  earlier  paintings  are  the  superior  in  execu- 

*  One  of  the  earliest  indications  of  human  existence  on  the  planet 
is  a  sepulchral  cave  in  the  post-pliocene  drift  at  Aurignac,  in  Frar-ce, 
in  which  are  evidences  of  the  celebration  of  the  funeral  banquet  and 
other  sepulchral  rites.  "  The  artificially  closed  Catacomb,"  says  Dr. 
Wilson,  "  the  sepulchred  dead,  the  gifts  within,  the  ash^s  and  dkbris 
of  the  last  funeral  feast  without, ....  all  tell  the  ever-recurring  story 
of  reverent  piety,  unavailing  sorrow,  and  the  instinctive  faith  in  a 
future  life  which  dwells  in  the  breast  of  the  rudest  savage." — "  Pre- 
historic Man,"  by  Daniel  Wilson,  LL.D.,  Toronto  University,  p.  84. 

f  "  History  of  Art,"  by  Dr.  Wilhelm  Liibke,  vol.  i,  p.  275. 


Early  Christian  Art, 


207 


tion,  and  manifest  a  richness,  a  vigour  and  freedom  like 
that  of  the  best  specimens  of  the  classic  period.  Their 
design  is  more  correct,  their  ornamentation  more  chaste 
and  elegant,  and  the  accessories  more  graceful  than  in 
the  later  examples.  These  shared  the  gradual  decline 
which  characterized  the  art  of  the  dying  empire,  be- 
coming more  impoverished  in  conception,  stiff  in  man- 
ner, and  conventional  and  hieratic  in  type,  till  they  sink 
into  the  barbarism  of  the  Byzantine  period. 

This  is  contrary  to  the  opinion  which  has  till  recently 
been  entertained.  Lord  Lindsay  asserts  of  the  paint- 
ings of  the  Catacombs  that,  "  considered  as  works  of 
art,  they  are  but  poor  productions — the  meagreness  of 
invention  only  equalled  by  the  feebleness  of  execution 
— inferior,  generally  speaking,  to  the  worst  specimens  of 
contemporary  heathen  art."*  But  this  characteriza- 
tion was  the  result  of  imperfect  acquaintance  with  the 
subject.  Indeed,  he  speaks  of  the  Catacombs  as  "  for 
the  most  part  closed  up  and  inaccessible,  and  the 
frescoes  obliterated  by  time  and  destroyed."  But  re- 
cent discoveries  have  brought  to  light  many  important 
examples  which  completely  disprove  his  depreciatory 
estimate.  In  many  of  the  newly  opened  crypts  the 
colours  are  as  fresh  as  if  applied  yesterday ;  and,  as  re- 
gards style  and  execution,  the  frescoes  of  the  Ca;tacombs 
"  approach,"  says  the  eminent  art  critic,  Kugler,  "  very 
near  to  the  wall  paintings  of  the  best  period  of  the  em- 
pire."! No  one  can  look  through  the  magnificent  vol- 
umes of  Perret  without  being  struck  with  the  grace, 
vigour,  and  classic  beauty  of  many  of  the  paintings  there 
reproduced.  It  is  admitted  that  the  French  artists  have 
"  touched  up  "  the  faded  colours,  and  some  of  the  pic- 

*  "  History  of  Christian  Art,"  vol.  i,  p.  39. 
f  Handbuch  der  Kunstgeschickte,  p.  14. 


2o8 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


turcs  may  be  better  termed  restorations  than  accurate 
copies ;  but  thev  are  nowhere  accused  of  being  false  to 
the  general  „ter  and  spirit  of  the  originals. 

The  antiquity  of  these  better  specimens  of  Christian 
art  is  still  further  confirmed  by  their  being  fouwd  in  the 
oldest  crypts  of  the  Catacombs ;  and,  like  the  architec- 
tural character  of  these  more  ancient  chambers,  they 
indicate  the  publicity  of  their  construction  and  their  legal 
protection.  In  the  later  excavations,  on  the  contrary,  the 
paintings  are  few  in  number,  and  inferior  in  type  and 
execution — an  evidence  of  the  persecution  and  impov- 
erishment of  the  Christians  as  well  as  of  the  decline  of 
art.  The  more  celebrated  shrines,  it  is  true,  were  repeat- 
edly decorated  at  successive  periods  down  to  the  ninth 
century ;  *  but  the  times  of  these  decorations  may  be 
approximately  estimated  by  internal  evidence,  as  the 
presence  of  the  Constantinian  monogram,  of  the 
nimbus,!  and  other  characteristic  signs  testify. 

Early  Christian  art  thus  sprang  out  of  that 
which  was  pre-existing,  selecting  and  adapting  what  was 
consistent  with  its  spirit,  and  rigorously  rejecting  what- 
ever savoured  of  idolatry  or  of  the  sensual  character  of 
ancient  heathen  life.  It  stripped  off,  to  use  the  figure 
of  Dr.  Lubke,  what  was  unsuitable  to  the  new  ideas, 

*  Mr.  J.  H.  Parker  refers  to  the  fifth  or  sixth  century  many  paint- 
ings which  De  Rossi  ascribes  to  the  second  or  third.  These  eminent 
authorities  represent  two  extremes  of  opinion.  Probably  the  truth 
lies  between  them. 

\  No  example  of  the  former  is  known  before  A.  D.  312.  The  nim- 
bus is  given  to  Our  Lord  in  the  fourth  century,  to  angels  in  the  fifth, 
but  did  not  reach  its  widest  application  till  the  seventh.  (Martigny, 
Diet,  des  Antiqs.  CArit.)  It  was  employed  in  ante-Christian  pagan 
art,  both  Egyptian  and  classical.  In  Byzantine  art  it  is  a  symbol  of 
power  and  of  office,  and  was  therefore  given  alike  to  Pharaoh,  Saul, 
Herod,  Constantine,  Judas,  the  apocalyptic  Dragon,  and  Satan. 
Sometimes  that  of  Judas  is  /f/aci.  (Didron,  Iconog.  Chrit.  in  hco.) 


X 


Ear!/  Christian  Art. 


309 


and  retained  the  healthy  germ  from  which  the  tree  of 
Christian  art  was  to  unfold  in  grand  magnificence.  As 
Christianity  was  the  very  antithesis  of  paganism  in 
spirit,  so  its  art  was  singularly  free  from  pagan  error. 
There  are  no  wanton  dances  of  nude  figures  like  those 
upon  the  walls  of  Pompeii,  but  chaste  pictures  with  fig- 
ures clothed  from  head  to  foot;  or,  where  historical 
accuracy  required  the  representation  of  the  undraped 
form,  as  in  pictures  of  our  first  parents  in  the  garden  of 
Eden,  or  of  the  story  of  Jonah,  they  are  instinct  with  mod- 
esty and  innocence.  Pagan  art,  a  genius  with  drooping 
wing  and  torch  reversed,  stood  at  the  door  of  death,  but 
cast  no  light  upon  the  world  beyond.  Christian  art^  in- 
spired with  lofty  faith,  pierced  through  the  veil  of  sense, 
beyond  the  shadows  of  time,  and  beheld  the  pure  spirit 
soaring  above  the  grave,  like  essence  rising  from  an 
alembic  in  which  all  the  grosser  qualities  of  matter  are 
left  behind.  Henc  only  images  of  hope  and  tender 
joy  were  employed  There  is  no  symptom  of  the  de- 
spair of  paganism ;  scarce  even  of  natural  sorrow. 

Independent  statues  were  in  the  first  ages  rarely  if 
ever  used.*  There  seemed  to  be  greater  danger  of 
falling  into  idolatry  in  the  imitation  of  these,  in  which 
form  were  most  of  the  representations  of  the  heathen 
deities,  than  in  the  employment  of  painting;  and  it 
was  igainst  the  making  of  graven  images  that  the  pro- 
hibiaon  of  Scripture  was  especially  directed.f  Their 
fabrication,  therefore,  was  especially  avoided.  Indeed, 
sculpture  never  became  truly  Christian,  and  even 
in  the  hands  of  an  Angelo  or  a  Thorwaldsen  failed 
to  produce  triumphs  of  skill  like  those  of  Phidias  or 

*  Certain  Gnostic  images  will  be  hereafter  mentioned. 

f  Ex.  XX,  4.  ^9^  i^  ^  carved  image,  from  the  root  boS,  to  cut,  or 

carve. 

14 


2IO 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


! 


Praxiteles.  Christian  graphic  art,  however,  in  its  noblest 
development  far  surpassed  even  the  grandest  achieve- 
ments of  which  we  have  any  account  of  the  schools  of 
Apelles  and  Zeuxis.  Christianity  is  the  embodiment  of 
the  gentler  graces ;  paganism,  in  its  purest  form,  that 
of  the  sterner  virtues.  The  former  finds  its  best  expres- 
sion in  painting,  the  latter  in  sculpture. 

The  first  Christian  paintings  were  light  and  graceful 
sketches,  afcer  the  manner  of  the  older  classic  art;  and 
but  for  the  substitution  of  a  Christian  for  a  heathen  con- 
ception— a  biblical  scene  or  character,  as  Daniel  in  the 
lions'  den,  Jonah,  or  the  Good  Shepherd,  or  some  strik- 
ing Christian  symbol — it  would  be  difficult  to  distinguish 
them  from  contemporary  pagan  pictures.*  While  the 
principal  figure  gave  an  unquestionably  Christian  char- 
acter to  the  whole,  the  accessories,  divisions  of  space, 
colouring,  and  general  treatment  were  quite  in  the 
manner  of  the  antique.  Garlands,  festoons  of  flowers 
and  vases  of  fruits ;  graceful  arabesques,  luxuriant  vines, 
grapes,  birds  and  genii ;  ideal  heads,  masks,  and  fabu- 
lous animals ;  hunting,  vintage  and  harvest  scenes,  and 
pastor:«l  groups ;  personifications  of  the  hours,  seasons, 
rivers,  and  the  like,  made  up  the  entourage^  or  formed 
part  of  the  picture.  Thus  the  roof  of  a  crypt  in  the 
most  ancient  part  (probably  of  the  first  century)  of  the 
cemetery  of  Domitilla  is  completely  covered  with 
branches  trailing  in  graceful  curves  with  exquisite  natu- 

*  These  pictures  were  generally  cu  smooth  white  plaster,  and  in 
beautiful  bright  colours,  for  the  most  part  in  spaces  limited  by  lines 
of  vivid  blue,  yellow,  or  red,  or  by  band;  of  Egyptian-like  lotus  or 
lily  pattern.  If  on  the  ceiling,  they  were  in  /vw/'/iSM  similarly  divided. 
These  bands  frequently  run  around  the  loculi  and  arcosolia,  and  di- 
vide the  walls  into  panels.  Occasionally  the  latter  are  covered  with 
a  reticulated  or  lattice-like  pattern  in  bright,  opaque  colors.  Thr 
paintings  are  now  often  much  faded  and  defaced. 


i,: 


Early  Christian  Art. 


311 


ralness,  and  entirely  free  from  the  conventional  restraint 
and  geometrical  symmetry  which  indicate  the  subsequent 
decline  of  art.  Among  the  branches  flit  birds,  and 
winged  genii  like  little  cupids.  Another  specimen  of 
great  beauty,  of  the  second  century,  in  the  Catacomb 
of  Prsetextatus,  exhibits  a  well  drawn  harvest  scene,  with 
wreaths  of  roses,  vine,  and  laurel,  and  with  birds  flitting 
about  their  nests.  A  fresco  of  the  Good  Shepherd  and 
an  inscription  attest  its  Christian  character.  I'he  dra- 
pery and  drawing  of  the  figures  in  the  earlier  examples 
are  also  exceptionally  good. 

Several  of  the  Christian  symbols  were  common  also 
to  pagan  art ;  as  the  palm,  the  crown,  the  ship,  and 
others  to  be  hereafter  mentioned.  They  acquired,  how- 
ever, under  Christian  treatment  a  profounder  and  nobler 
significance  than  they  ever  possessed  before.  But  there 
are  other  and  more  striking  examples  of  the  adoption, 
when  appropriate  to  Christian  themes,  of  subjects  from 
pagan  art.  Orpheus  charming  the  wild  beasts  with  his 
lyre  is  a  frequently  recurring  figure  in  the  Catacombs, 
and  is  referred  to  by  the  Christian  Fathers  as  a  type  of 
Him  who  drew  all  men  to  himself  by  the  sweet  persua- 
sive power  of  his  divine  wdrd.  The  victory  of  Our 
Lord  over  death  and  hell,  and  probably  an  ancient  inter- 
pretation of  his  preaching  to  the  spirits  in  prison,*  may 
have  found  a  sort  of  parallel  in  the  beautiful  legend  of 
the  faithful  lover  seeking  in  the  under-world  the  lost 
Eurydice  bitten  by  a  deadly  serpent ;  while,  at  the 
sound  of  his  wondrous  harp,  gloomy  Dis  was  soothed, 
Ixion's  wheel  stood  still,  Tantalus  forgot  his  thirst,  and 
the  stone  of  Sisyphus  hung  poised  in  air.f     The  Orphic 

♦  I  Pet.  iii,  19. 

f  The  Mediaval  conception  of  Christ's  '•  Harrowing  of  Hell "  and 
delivery  of  our  first  parents,  ruined  through  the  guile  of  the  serpent. 


i:! 


212 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


al         -- 


verses  were  also  said  by  the  Fathers  to  have  contained 
many  true  prophecies  concerning  Our  Lord.  These, 
however,  like  the  testimony  of  the  Sibyls,  were  pious 
forgeries  o^  post-Christian  date. 

Another  fable  of  the  pagan  mythology  reproduced  in 
early  Christian  art  is  that  of  Ulysses  and  the  Sirens.  A 
sarcophagus  in  the  crypt  of  Lucina  represents  the 
"  much-planning "  wanderer  of  Ithaca,  bound  to  the 
mast,  deaf  to  the  blandishments  of  the  rather  harpy- 
like daughters  of  the  sea,  and  so  sailing  safely  by.  Max- 
imus  of  Turin,  in  the  fifth  century,  explained  the  ship 
of  Ulysses  to  be  "  a  type  of  the  church,  the  mast  being 
the  cross,  by  which  the  faithful  are  to  be  kept  fronrthe 
seductions  of  the  senses.  Thus,"  he  says,  "  shall  we  be 
neither  held  back  by  the  pernicious  hearing  of  the 
world's  voice,  nor  swerve  from  our  course  to  the  better 
life,  and  fall  upon  the  rocks  of  voluptuousness."* 

These  reminiscences  of  pagan  art  are  more  frequent 
in  the  sculptures  of  the  sarcophagi,  in  which  the  classic 
type  seems  more  persistent  than  in  the  paintings.  Thus, 
in  a  bas-relief,  in  the  Lateran  Museum,  of  the  ascent  of 
Elijah  in  the  fiery  chariot  to  heaven,  by  a  strange  solecism 
Mercury  is  represented  standing  at  the  horses'  heads. 
This  was  probably  the  result  of  an  unconscious  imitation 
of  some  heathen  design.  On  a  sarcophagus  from  the 
Catacomb  of  Callixtus,  in  a  harvest  scene,  is  what  seems 
to  be  a  representation  of  Cupid  and  Pysche.  This, 
however,  was  found  buried  beneath  the  floor,  and  bore 
indications  of  having  been  coated  witl.  plaster,  as  if  in 
concealment  of  the  heathen   figures.     On  others  have 

is  a  striking  analogue  of  this  myth.    Compare  also  Bacon's  rathtir 
fantastic  explanation  of  this  legend  by  the  principles  of  natural  and 
moral  philosophy.     See  his  **  Wisdom  of  the  Ancients,"  chap.  xi. 
♦  Horn,  i,  De  Crttce  Domini. 


Early  Christian  Art. 


213 


been  observed  bas-reliefs  of  Bacchus  attended  by  cu- 
pids,  fawns  and  satyrs,  the  unfortunate  Marsyas,  the 
desertion  of  Ariadne,  and  the  return  of  Ulysses.  It  is 
probable  that  some  of  thtte  incongruities  resulted  from 
the  sarcophagus  having  been  carved  by  a  pagan  artist, 
inasmuch  as  sculpture  was  less  likely  to  be  practised  by 
the  Christians  than  painting.  Indeed,  some  of  these 
subjects,  offensive  to  Christian  feeling,  have  been  care- 
fully defaced  with  a  chisel,  or  turned  to  the  wall ;  as  one 
in  the  crypt  of  Lucina,  on  which  is  a  bacchanalian  scene, 
while  on  the  rough  side,  exposed  to  view,  is  inscribed  the 
Christian  epitaph.  The  sarcophagi  of  Constantia  and 
Helena,  daughters  of  Constantine,  now  in  the  Vatican 
Museum,  bear  vintage  and  battle  scenes  and  Bacchic 
masks ;  and  on  that  in  which  the  Emperor  Charlemagne 
was  buried,  probably  of  pagan  origin,  is  represented  the 
rape  of  Proserpine.  On  the  gilded  glasses  of  the  Cata- 
combs, some  of  which  were  evidently  employed  for  fes- 
tive purposes,  pagan  influence  also  appears  in  such 
representations  as  Achilles,  Hercules,  Daedalus,  Minerva, 
the  Graces,  Cupid  and  Psyche,  (Neptune  with  his  trident, 
and  a  river-god  as  the  symbol  of  the  Jordan. 

Even  in  distinctively  Christian  subjects  it  is  some- 
times apparent  that  the  artist  had  not  freed  himself  from 
the  influence  of  pagan  types.  Thus  the  Good  Shepherd 
is  represented  with  the  short  tunic  and  buskins  of  the 
Roman  peasant,  and  often  with  the  classic  syrinx  or 
rustic  pipes,  probably  from  some  reminiscence  of  the 
popular  rural  deity,  the  god  Pan.  In  the  Lateran  Mu- 
seum is  a  manifest  example — the  sarcophagus  of  Pau- 
lina— of  a  pagan  sculpture  having  been  adapted  as  a 
Christian  Good  Shepherd.  In  a  bas-relief  of  Jonah, 
\v  the  Vatican  Library,  the  classic  influence  is  seen 
in  the  Triton  blowing  his  horn,  and  Iris  floating  over 


% 


214 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


the  vessel  with  her  fluttering  scarf,  to  indicate  the  sub- 
sidence of  the  storm.  The  ship  is  like  the  barges  that 
navigate  the  Tiber,  and  the  sea-monster  that  swal- 
lows the  recreant  prophet  i^like  that  which  menaced 
Andromeda. 

Christianity  thus  preserved  amid  the  wreck  of  an- 
cient civilization  some  germs  of  classic  art,  over 
which  she  brooded  till  they  quickened  under  the  more 
genial  influences  of  later  times.  She  became  thus,  as 
Dr.  Liibke  remarks,  the  mediator  between  the  antique 
heathen  life  and  the  art  of  modem  Christendom.  That 
distinguished  crftic,  Raoul-Rochette,  has,  however,  at- 
tributed to  pagan  types  too  great  an  influence  on  the 
art  of  the  Catacombs,  and  almost  denies  the  latter  all 
originality  or  distinctiveness  of  treatment;  and  he  is 
certainly  quite  in  error  in  speaking  of  the  almost  pagan 
physiognomy  of  the  decorations  of  the  Catacombs.* 
He  was  misled  in  forming  these  opinions  in  part  by  cer- 
tain monuments  in  the  Catacomb  of  Praetextatus,  dis- 
covered and  described  by  Bottari,  and  at  first  supposed 
to  be  of  Christian  origin. f  This  opinion,  however,  has 
been  since  refuted  in  an  able  monograph  on  the  subject 
by  Padre  Garrucci.  J 

The  exceptional  and  unique  character  of  these  mon- 
uments deserves  a  somewhat  detailed  examination. 
They  occur  in  a  gallery  of  the  Catacomb,  not  far  from 
the  Appian  Way.  In  the  vault  of  an  arcosoHum  is  a 
representation  of  Venus — a  subject  never  fo  id  in  early 


*  "  La  physionomie  presque  payenne  qui  offre  le  decoration  des 
Catacombes  de  Rome." — Discours  Sur  I '  origine  des  types  imitatifs 
de  TArt  du  Christianisme.     Paris,  1834,  p.  96. 

\  Sculture  e  pitture  sagre,  etc.,  t.  iii,  pp.  193,  218. 

%  Le  Mysthre  de  Syncretisme  Phrygien  dans  les  Catacombes  Koiium 
de  Pn'textat.  {N^ouvelle  Interpretation.)  Paris,  1854. 


%, 


Early  Christian  Art. 


2i«; 


Christian  art — accompanied  by  two  genii  as  infants. 
Near  these  are  the  following  epitaphs  of  a  pagan  priest 
and  his  wife  '- 

NVMENIS  ANTISTES  SEBASIS  VINCENTIVii  HIC  [EST] 
QVI  SACRA  SANCTA  DEVM  PIA  MENTE  C0[LVIT]. 

Here  lies  Vincentius,  a  priest  of  the  deity  Sebasis,  who  with  pious 
mind  has  observed  the  sacred  rites  of  the  gods. 

VINCENTI  HOC  GLIM  FREQVENTES  QVOD  VIDES  ♦ 
PLVRES  ME  ANTECESSERVNT  OMNES  EXPECTO 
MANDVCA  BIBE  LVDE  ET  VENI  AD  ME 
CVM  VIVES  BENEFAC  HOC  TECVM  FERES. 

O  Vincentius,  many  formerly  in  crowds,  as  you  here  see,  have  gone 
before  me ;  I  await  all.  Eat,  drink,  play,  and  come  to  me.  While 
thou  livest  act  well :  this  thou  shalt  bear  with  thee. 

The  arcosolium  to  which  this  is  attached  contains  the 
remarkable  paintings  represented  in  the  accompanying 
engraving.f  The  first  picture  to  the  left  represents  the 
death  of  Vibia,  wife  of  Vincentius,  and  is  labeled  a b- 
REPTio  •  viBiES  •  ET  •  DESCENSio.  She  is  depicted  as b'eing 
borne  off  by  Pluto,  to  indicate  that  her  death  was  pre- 
mature. The  god  is  standing  upright  in  his  quadriga^ 
conducted  by  Mercury  and  holding  in  his  arms  the  form 
of  Vibia.  In  the  original  picture,  issuing  from  an  urn  at 
the  foot  of  Mercury,  is  seen  the  river  Acheron,  by 
which  Pluto  is  about  to  descend  to  the  infernal  regions, 
as  indicated  by  the  word  descensio. 

At  the  top  of  the  vault  is  represented  the  judgment  of 
Vibia  at  the  tribunal  of  Pluto.  The  <od  is  seated  on 
his  throne,  with  his  wife  Proserpine,  and  over  their  heads 

*  Another  reading  is : 

HIC  ORO  NE  INQVETES  QVOT  VIDES. 

f  Fig.  31,  from  Ferret,  tom.  i,  planche  Ix.  The  description  in  the 
text  is  translated  from  his  account,  founded  on  Gamicci.  See  also 
Tre  sepolcri  con  pitture  ed  iscrizioni  apparten:nti  alle  sttperstizioni 
pagane  del  Bacco  Sahazio  e  del  Per^idico  Alitra.    Napoli,   1852. 


'■) 


'i 


2l6 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


Early  Christian  Art. 


217 


are  written  the  words  dispater  and  abracvra — titles 
of  the  deities.  To  the  right  of  the  throne  we  see  three 
fates — FATA .  DiviNA — and  to  the  left  Vibia  preceded  by 
Mercury — mercvrivs  •  nvntivs — and  accompanied  by 
Alcestis,  the  heroine  of  conjugal  love.  The  figures  all 
have  their  names  written  above  their  heads. 

The  principal  painting  of  the  series,  that  in  the  tym- 
panum of  the  arch,  represents  the  introduction  of  Vibia 
to  the  banquet  of  the  blessed.  This  is  shown  in  the 
left  hand  corner  of  the  picture,  and  is  designated  indvc- 
Tio  •  viEiES.  She  is  introduced  by  a  youthful  figure 
crowned  with  flowers,  and  holding  in  his  hand  a  floral 
wreath.  His  name — angelvs  •  bonvs — '^*'  good  mes- 
senger— is  perhaps  less  an  indication  of  Christian 
influence  than  of  the  Greek  and  Oriental  ideas  which 
have  presided  over  the  whole  of  these  scenes.  Vibia 
next  appears  seated  at  the  banquet  in  the  midst  of  those 
who  have  been  judged  worthy  of  the  recompense  of  the 
good — bonorvm  •  ivDicio  •  ivDiCATi.  They  are  ranged 
around  a  crescent-shaped  table  formed  of  cushions,  and 
wear  festive  crowns  upon  their  heads.  In  the  foreground 
are  seen  the  servants. 

The  fourth  scene,  to  the  extreme  right  of  the  vault, 
represents  the  funeral  banquet  in  honor  of  Vibia,  It  is 
given  by  her  husband  Vincentius,  who  is  designated  by 
name,  to  the  priests  of  Sebasis,  over  whose  heads  are 
written  the  words,  septe  •  pii  •  sacerdotes.  All  these 
paintings,  not  only  by  their  inscriptions,  but  by  their  con- 
ception and  treatment,  demonstrate  their  pagan  origin. 
They  are  not  in  any  sense  or  degree  Christian ;  nor  is 
there  any  reason  to  infer,  as  has  been  asserted,  that  they 
are  of  Gnostic  execution,  but  decidedly  the  reverse. 

But  how  are  we  to  account  for  the  presence  of  this 
pagan  monument  within  the  limits  of  a  Christian  cem- 


,' 


2l8 


TAe  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


etery  ?  There  arc  two  things  to  be  observed,  s.iys  M. 
Perret,  in  explanation  of  this  circumstance.  First,  the 
arcosolium  is  not  exclusively  Christian  in  character.  M. 
de  Saulcy  has  given  examples  of  several  Jewish  and 
pagan  tombs  in  the  form  of  arcosolia*  In  the  second 
place,  there  is  nothing  strange  in  a  family  practising  an 
oriental  rite,  like  the  worship  of  Mithras — which  with  the 
Phrygian  and  Isiac  mysteries  were  widely  prevalent  in 
Rome  in  the  early  Christian  centuries — having  a  private 
place  of  sepulture,  as  this  seems  to  have  been.  It  is 
situated  near  the  Appian  Way,  from  which  there  was 
probably  a  separate  entrance.  Near  by  is  a  pagan 
columbarium  which  now  forms  one  of  the  entrances  of 
the  Catacomb,  of  which  it  seems  part  equally  with  the 
galler)  containing  this  tomb.  This  space  may  possibly 
have  been  originally  usurped  from  the  Christian  ceme- 
tery ;  but  it  is  more  probable  that  the  gallery  and  tomb 
were  independently  constructed,  and  that  the  fossors 
came  unexpectedly  upon  it  in  their  excavations.  This 
conjecture  is  confirmed  by  the  indications  of  its  having 
been  subsequently  shut  off,  but  the  obstructions  have 
long  since  been  removed.  It  is  impossible  to  admit  that 
the  Christians,  in  contempt  of  the  sacred  usages  of  the 
primitive  ages,  have  cc  Timingled  their,  sepulchres  with 
those  of  the  pagans.f     A 

But  Christian  art,  though  affected  by  pagan  influ- 
ence, did  not  servilely  follow  pagan  types.  It  intro- 
duced new  forms  to  express  new  ideas,  or  employed 
existing  forms  with  a  new  significance ;  just  as  Chris- 
tianity itself  introduced  new  words,  or  gave  new  mean- 
ings to  old  ones,  not  only  in  the  classic  tongues  but 
in  every  language  which  it  has  adopted  as  the  vehicle 
of  its  sublime  truths.  It  created  a  cycle  of  symbolical 
.  ♦  Voyage  dans  les  terres  bibliques,  pi.  5.  f  Perret,  i,  p.  44. 


Early  Christian  Art. 


219 


types  of  especial  Christian  significance ;  and  became 
more  enriched  and  enlarged  in  its  scope  by  allegorical 
representations  of  religious  doctrine,  and  by  ill  .stra^ions 
of  Old  and  New  Testament  history  and  miracles.  But 
Christian  art  soon  lost  that  freedom  of  treatment  which 
it  inherited  from  its  classic  parentage,  and  fell  into  fixed 
and  conventional  forms,  which  were  endlessly  reiterated. 
"  Before  many  years,"  says  Maitland,  "  the  empire  of 
imagination  passed  away,  and  the  genius  of  art,  with 
*  torch  extinct  and  swimming  ey^,'  had  to  mourn  over 
the  introduction  of  the  hieratic  style  which,  wherever 
it  has  appeared  throughout  the  world,  has  cramped  and 
almost  annihilated  the  inventive  faculty."  Like  the 
hieroglyphs  of  Egypt  and  of  India,  or  like  the  picture- 
writing  of  the  lost  races  of  Central  America,  though  in 
a  less  degree,  the  objects  of  Christian  art  became  not 
so  much  representative  as  symbolic.  Individual  genius 
can  only  struggle  hopelessly  with  the  shackles  of  a  con- 
ventional system.  From  the  freedom  of  nature  it  sinks 
into  a  servile  copyism  which  can  hardly  be  called  art  at  all. 
Yet  the  symbols  of  the  Catacombs,  though  often  rude 
and  uncouth,  must  not  provoke  our  contempt.  They 
fulfilled  their  purpose  no  less  fully  than  the  triumphs  of 
art  in  the  Camera  Raphaele  or  the  Sistine  Chapel.  They 
were  addressed  not  to  the  external  sense,  nor  to  the 
critical  taste,  but  to  the  inner  eye  of  the  soul  and  to 
the  sublime  faculty  of  faith.  They  were  not  mere 
representations  of  the  outward  semblances  of  things, 
but  suggestions  of  eternal  verities  which  transcend  the 
limits  of  time  and  space.  The  rudely  scratched  anchor 
told  of  a  hope  that  reached  forward  beyond  this  world 
and  laid  hold  on  the  great  realities  of  the  world  to  come ; 
the  dove  spoke  of  the  brooding  peace  of  God,  which 
kept  the  heart  and  the  mind  amid  persecution  and  afflic- 


220 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


tion  with  the  power  of  an  everlasting  life ;  and  the  palm 
was  the  symbol  of  the  final  victory  over  death  and  hell. 

When  the  age  of  persecution  passed  away,  this  child- 
like and  touching  simplicity  of  Christian  art  gave  place 
to  a  more  ornate  character.  Called  from  the  gloomy 
vaults  of  the  Catacombs  to  adorn  the  churches  erected 
by  Constantine  and  his  successors,  it  gradually  devel- 
oped into  the  many-coloured  splendour  of  the  magnificent 
frescoes  and  mosaics  of  the  basilicas.  It  becrme  now 
more  personal  and  historical,  and  less  abstract  and  doc- 
trinal. The  technical  manipulation  became  less  under- 
stood, and  the  artistic  conception  of  form  more  and 
more  feeble,  till  it  gradually  stiffened  into  the  immobile 
and  rigid  types  which  characterize  Byzantine  painting. 
It  exhibited  the  weakness  not  of  infancy  but  of  decrep- 
itude, and  might  almost  be  called  the  last  sigh  of  art 
till  its  revival  after  the  long  slumber  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  It  is  of  importance,  however,  as  enabling  us  to 
trace  the  development  of  religious  error,  and  the  intro- 
duction of  unorthodox  additions  to  Christian  belief,  and 
as  showing  the  slow  progress  toward  image  worship.  It 
demonstrates  the  non-apostolicity  of  certain  Romish 
doctrines,  the  beginning  of  which  can  be  here  detected. 
It  utters  its  voiceless  protest  against  certain  others 
which  are  sought  for  in  vain  in  the  places  where,  accord- 
ing to  the  Roman  theory,  they  should  certainly  be  found. 
Where  still  employed  in  the  Catacombs,  art  shared  the 
corruption  and  degradation  above  described. 

It  is  to  this  period  that  most  of  the  condemnations 
of  art,  or  rather  *"  'ts  abuse,  in  the  writings  of  the 
primitive  Fathers  must  be  referred.  Toward  the  close 
of  the  fourth  century  Augustine  inveighs  against  the 
superstitious  reverence  for  pictures,  as  well  as  the  grow- 
ing devotion  to  the  sepulchres,  which  he  says  the  church 


V 


Early  Christian  Art. 


221 


condemned  and  endeavoured  to  correct.*  His  contem- 
porary, Epiphanius,  stigmatizes  the  employment  of 
painting  as  contrary  to  the  authority  of  Scripture. f 
About  the  same  time  Paulinus  of  Nola  made  use  of 
biblical  pictures  for  the  instruction  of  the  rude  and 
illiterate  multitude  who  visited  the  shrine  of  Felix. 
"  Perhaps  it  may  be  asked,"  he  says,  "  for  what  reason, 
contrary  to  the  common  usage,  I  have  painted  this  sa- 
cred dwelling  with  personal  representations  ?  .  .  .  Here 
is  a  crowd  of  rustics  of  imperfect  faith,  who  cannot  read, 
who  before  they  were  converted  to  Christ  used  profane 
rites,  and  obeyed  their  senses  as  gods.  I  have,  there- 
fore, thought  it  expedient  to  enliven  with  paintings  the 
whole  habitation  of  the  saint.  Pictures  thus  traced 
with  colours  will  perhaps  inspire  those  rude  minds  with 
astonishment.  Inscriptions  are  placed  above  the  paint- 
ings in  order  that  the  letter  may  explain  what  the  hand 
has  depicted."  t 
The  feeblest  intelligence  might  rise  through  the  ma- 

♦  Novi  multos  esse   sepalchronim  et  picturanim  adoratores  .  .  . 
quos  et  ipsa  ecclesia  condemnat,  et  tanquam  malos  filios  corrigere 
studet. — Aug.,  ffe  Morib.  Eccl.  Cathol.,  lib.  i,  c.  34. 
f  Cuntra  auetoritatem  Scripturarum. — Epiphan.,  ad  yohan.  HierosoL 
X  Forte  requiratur,  quanam  ratione  gerendi 
Sederit  hsec  nobis  sententia,  pingere  sanctas 
Raro  more  domos  animantibus  adsimulatis. 

Turba  frequentia  hie  est 
Rusticitas  non  casta  fide,  neque  docta  legend!. 
Haec  adsueta  diu  sacris  servire  profanis. 
Ventre  Deo,  tandem  convertitur  advena  Christo. 
Propterea  visum  nobis  opus  utile,  totis 
Felicis  domibus  pictura  illudere  sanct4 : 
Si  forte  attonitas  hsec  per  spectacula  mentes 
Agrestes  caperet  fucata  coloribus  umbra. 
Quae  super  exprimitur  titulis,  ut  litera  monstret 
Quod  mat^us  explicuit. 

— Paulin.,  De  Felice  Natal.  Cann.,  ix,  w,  541,  et  seq. 


\\ 


J 


«aHai^= 


222 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


tcridl  to  the  conception  of  spiritual  truth.*  But  this 
ecclesiastical  employment  of  art  speedily  became  the 
source  of  religious  corruption  and  the  object  of  super- 
stitious worship.  At  length  it  provoked  the  stern  icon- 
oclasm  of  the  Isaurian  Leo  and  his  successors,  and 
was  formally  prohibited  by  the  general  Council  of  Con- 
stantinople in  the  eighth  century.  Even  early  in  the 
fourth  century  the  Council  of  Elvira,  as  if  with  a  pres- 
cience of  the  dire  result  that  would  follow,  prohibited 
the  use  of  pictures  in  the  churches,  "  lest  that  which 
was  worshipped  and  adored  should  be  painted  on  the 

walls."  t 

The  iconoclastic  spirit,  however,  was  principally 
directed  against  graven  images,  which  were  regarded 
as  the  special  objects  of  idolatry.  The  earliest  ex- 
amples of  these  have  been  attributed  to  the  Gnostics, 
who  so  strangely  blended  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity with  pagan  superstition.  They  claimed  to  possess 
contemporary  images  of  Christ  from  the  collection  of 

*  Segnius  irritant  animos  demissa  per  aurem 
Quam  quae  sunt  oculis  subjecta  fidelibus. — Hot.,  de  Arte  PoetUd. 

Mens  hebes  ad  vemm  per  materialia  surgit 
Et,  demersa  prius,  hac  visa  luce  resurgit. 

— On  doonvay  of  St.  Denis,  Paris, 

During  the  Middle  Ages  much  religious  truth  was  doubtless  con- 
veyed by  these  storied  basilicas  or  "  gospels  in  stone."  Of  St.  Mark's, 
V^enice,  Dr.  Guthrie  says,  "  It  is  not  more  remarkable  for  its  oriental 
splendour  than  for  the  flood  of  gospel  truth  set  forth  to  all  eyes  in 
the  mosaics  that  cover  and  adorn  its  domes  and  walls.  .  .  .  Here  the 
grand  central,  saving  doctrine,  the  glory  of  Paul  and  hope  of  sin- 
ners, '  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified,*  is  exhibited  with  wonderful 
fulness  and  fidelity."  In  A.  D.  483,  Pope  Sixtus  dedicated  to  the 
people  of  GoA—plehi  Dei — the  mosaics  o»  3.  Maria  Maggiore  at 
Rome,  executed  for  their  instruction. 

f  Placuit  picturas  in  ecclesia  esse  non  debere,  ne  quod  colitur  ant 
adoratur  in  parietibus  depingatur.-  -Concil.  E liber.,  A.  D.  305,  c.  36. 


Eariy  Christian  Art. 


223 


Pontius  Pilate!  But  doubtless,  like  the  alleged  statue 
of  Christ  a*  Caesarea  Philippi,  mentioned  by  Eusebius,* 
even  if  they  had  any  reference  to  Our  Lord  at  all,  they 
were  of  much  later  date.  According  to  Augustine.f 
the  Carpocratian  heretics  had  similar  images ;  and  Mar- 
cellina,  who  belonged  to  that  sect,  exhibited  in  the 
Gnostic  church  at  Rome  figures  of  Christ,  Paul,  Ho- 
mer, and  Pythagoras.  In  a  similarly  eclectic  spirit 
the  emperor  Alexander  Severus  placed  among  his  lares 
the  images  of  Our  Lord  and  Abraham,  with  those  of 
Orpheus  and  ApoUonius.J 

Mosaic,  which  in  classic  times  was  used  only  for  the 
decoration  of  floors,  was  employed  in  Christian  art  in 
the  more  honourable  task  of  adorning  the  walls  of  the 
stately  basilicas  and  churches.  This  intractable  ma- 
terial was  not  adapted  for  the  delineation  of  objects  re- 
quiring delicacy  of  expression,  but  was  admirably  suited 
for  representing  strongly  pronounced  types  and  solemn 
figures  of  Christ  and  th3  saints,  analogous  to  those  in  the 
stained-glass  windows  of  gothic  cathedrals  and  minsters. 
Hence  the  mosaics,  and  gradually  all  Byzantine  art,  stiff- 
ened into  an  expression  of  severity  and  gloom,  filling  the 
mind  of  the  beholder  with  solemnity  and  awe.§  This 
charac;:er  is  still  strikingly  seen  in  the  art  of  the  Greek 

*  Tovrop  Sk  rhv  uvSpi&vra  eUova  rov  'I900V  fipetv  IXe/oi*. —  f/ist. 
EccUs.,  vii,  18. 

f  Sectae  ipsius  (Carpocratis)  fuisse  traditur  socia  quaedam  Marcel- 
lina,  qua.  colebat  imagines  Jesu  ct  Pauli,  ct  Homeri  et  Pythagorae, 
rrlorando  incensumque  ponendo. — Aug.,  d£  Hargsib.,  c.  vii ;  cf.  Iren., 
advers  Hares.,  i,  c.  xxv,  §  6.  Rochette  figures  one  of  these  Gnostic 
tessarse  or  amulets  with  a  head  of  Christ  and  the  word  XP12T0£,  ac- 
companied by  the  symbolic  fish. 

X  In  larario  suo  .  .  .  Christum,  Abraham  et  Orpheum,  et  hujus- 
modi  ceteros,  habebat  ac  majorum  effigies,  rem  divinam  faciebat.— • 
Lamprid.,  in  Alex.  Sever.,  c.  xxix. 

§  Lubke,  vol.  i,  p.  316. 


224 


The  Catacombs  of  Rotne. 


church,  especially  in  Russia,  where  there  is  an  intense 
and  superstitious  reverence  for  pictures,  known  nowhere 
else.  Many  of  the  churches  are  completely  covered 
with  paintings,  which  are  valued,  not  for  their  execution, 
for  they  are  often  hideously  ugly,  but  as  a  sort  of  talis- 
mans on  account  of  their  supposed  religious  sanctity.* 
Thus  art,  which  is  the  daughter  of  paganism,  relapsing 
into  the  service  of  superstition,  has  corrupted,  and  often 
paganized,  Christianity,  as  Solomon's  heathen  wives 
turned  his  heart  from  the  worship  of  the  true  God  to 
the  practice  of  idolatry.  Lecky  attributes  this  degra- 
dation of  style  to  the  latent  Manicheism  of  the  dark 
ages,  to  the  monkish  fear  of  beauty  as  a  deadly  tempta- 
tion, and  to  the  terrible  pictures  of  Dante,  which  opened 
up  such  an  abyss  of  horrors  to  the  imagination.  But  by 
means  of  this  mediaeval  art,  imperfect,  and  even  gro- 
tesque as  it  often  was,  would  be  brought  vividly  before 
the  minds  of  the  people  of  a  rude  and  barbarous  age  an 
intense  conception  of  the  scenes  of  Christ's  passion,  and 
a  realistic  sense  of  the  punishment  of  the  lost. 

It  will  be  convenient  to  treat  the  art  of  the  Catacombs 
under  the  two  heads  of  symbolical  and  biblical  paint- 
ings, and  to  discuss  separately  the  gilt  glasses  and  other 
objects  of  interest  found  in  these  crypts.  De  F<.ossi 
divides  the  subject  into  symbolical,  allegorical,  biblical, 
and  liturgical  paintings;  but  some  of  these  divisions, 
as  for  instance,  the  last,  assumes  the  whole  question  of 
the  purport  and  interpretation  of  these  pictures. 

*  Stanley's  Eastern  CAurcJUs,  passim. 


Tkiir  Symbolism, 


225 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  SYMBOLISM  OF  THE  CATACOMBS. 

Primitive  Christianity  was  eminently  congenial  to  re- 
ligious symbolism.  Born  in  the  East,  and  in  the  bosom 
of  Judaism,  which  had  long  been  familiar  with  this  uni- 
versal oriental  language,  it  adopted  types  and  figures 
as  its  natural  mode  of  expression.  These  formed  the 
warp  and  woof  of  the  symbolic  drapery  of  the  tabernacle 
and  temple  service,  prefiguring  the  great  truths  of  the 
Gospel.  The  Old  Testament  sparkles  with  mysterious 
imagery.  In  the  sublime  visions  of  Isaiah,  Ezekiel, 
and  Daniel,  move  strange  creatures  of  wondrous  form 
and  prophetic  significance.  In  the  New  Testament  the 
Divine  Teacher  conveys  the  loftiest  lessons  in  para- 
bles of  inimitable  beauty.  In  the  apocalyptic  visions 
of  St.  John  the  language  of  imagery  is  exhausted  to  rep- 
resent the  overthrow  of  Satan,  the  triymph  of  Christ, 
and  the  glories  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

The  primitive  Christians,  therefore,  naturally  adopted 
a  similar  mode  of  art  expression  for  conveying  religious 
inbrruction.  They  also,  as  a  necessary  precaution  in 
times  of  persecution,  concealed  from  the  profane  gaze 
of  their  enemies  the  mysteries  of  the  faith  under  a  veil 
of  symbolism,  which  yet  revealed  their  profoundest 
truths  to  the  hearts  of  the  initiated.  That  such  disguise 
was  not  superfluous  is  shown  by  the  recent  discovery  of 
a  pagan  caricature  of  the  Crucifixion  on  a  wall  beneath 

the  Palatine,  and  by  the  recorded  desecration  of  the 

15 


226 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


eucharistic  vessels  by  the  Apostate  Julian.*  To  those 
who  possessed  the  key  to  the  "  Christian  hieroglyphs," 
as  Raoul-Rochette  has  called  them,f  they  spoke  a  lan- 
guage that  the  most  unlettered  as  well  as  the  learned 
could  understand.  What  to  the  haughty  heathen  was 
an  unmeaning  scrawl,  to  the  lowly  believer  was  eloquent 
of  loftiest  truths  and  tenderest  consolation. 

Although  occasionally  fantastic  and  far-fetched,  this 
symbolism  is  generally  of  a  profoundly  religious  signifi- 
cance, and  often  of  extreme  poetic  beauty.  In  perpet- 
ual canticle  of  love  it  finds  resemblances  of  the  Divine 
Object  of  its  devotion  throughout  all  nature.  It  beholds 
beyond  the  shadows  of  time  the  eternal  verities  of  the 
world  to  come.  It  is  not  of  the  earth  earthy,  but  is 
entirely  supersensual  in  its  character,  and  employs  ma- 
terial forms  c  -ily  as  suggestions  of  the  unseen  and  spirit- 
ual. It  addresses  the  inner  vision  of  the  soul,  and  not 
the  mere  outer  sense.  Its  merit  consists,  therefore,  not 
in  artistic  beauty  of  execution,  but  in  appositeness  of 
religious  significance — a  test  lying  far  too  deep  for  the 
apprehension  of  the  uninitiate.  It  is  perhaps  also  in- 
fluenced, as  Kugler  remarks,  in  the  avoidance  of  real- 
istic representation,  by  the  fear  which  pervaded  the 
primitive  church  of  the  least  approach  to  idolatry. 

Great  care  must  be  observed,  however,  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  this  religious^ymbolism,  not  to  strain  it 
beyond  its  capacity  or  intention.  It  should  be  with- 
drawn from  the  sphere  of  theological  controversy,  too 

♦  When  persecution  ceased,  this  veil  of  mystery  was  thrown  off  and 
a  less  esoteric  art  employed  ;  but  even  when  Christianity  came  foith 
victorious  from  the  Catacombs,  symbolical  paintings  celebrated  its 
triumph  upon  the  walls  of  the  basilicas  £lnd  baptisteries  which  rose  in 
the  great  centres  of  population. 

f  Memoire  sur  les  antiquitks  Chrktiennes  des  Catacombes,  {Afim.  de 
FAcad.  des  Inscr.,  XII I.) 


Their  Symbolism, 


227 


often  the  battleground  of  religious  rancour  and  bitter- 
ness, and  relegated  to  that  of  scientific  archaeology  and 
dispassionate  criticism.  An  allegorizing  mind,  if  it  has 
any  theological  dogma  to  maintain,  will  discover  sym- 
bolical evidence  in  its  support  where  it  can  be  detected 
by  no  one  else.* 

One  of  the  most  striking  circumstances  which  im- 
presses an  observer  in  traversing  these  silent  chambers 
of  the  dead  is  the  complete  avoidance  of  all  images 
of  suffering  and  woe,  or  of  tragic  awfulness,  such  as 
abound  in  sacred  art  above  ground.  There  are  no 
representations  of  the  sevenfold  sorrows  of  the  Mater 
Dolorosa,  nor  cadaverous  Magdalens  accompanied  by 
eyeless  skulls  as  a  perpetual  memento  mori.  There  are 
no  pictures  of  Christ's  agony  and  bloody  sweat,  of  his 
cross  and  passion,  his  death  and   burial ;  nor  of  flag- 

*  Sometimes  this  superzealous  interpretation  leads  to  absard  mis- 
takes. Aringhi  devotes  two  folio  pages  to  the  explanation  of  certain 
figures  which  occur  in  the  inscriptions  of  the  Catacombs,  which  he 
calls  representations  of  the  human  heart.  He  illustrates  the  subject 
with  much  sacred  and  profane  learning,  and  with  many  quotations  from 
the  Scriptures,  the  Fathers,  and  classic  authors.  Another  archaeol- 
ogist, Boldoni,  suggests  that  the  figures  signify  the  bitterest  sorrow 
of  heart — dolorem  cordi  intimum  ;  and  another  believes  them  to  be 
representations  of  a  heart  transpierced  with  a  thorn,  the  symbol  of 
profoundest  grief.  These  mysterious  figures,  whose  hidden  meaning 
was  sought  with  such  empty  ioW—i^anam  significationem  inani  la^ 
bore  investagarint,  says  De  Ros&i^Pk'ere,  however,  nothing  more  than 
the  leaf-decorations  employed  in  both  pagan  and  Christian  inscrip- 
tions by  way  of  punctuation !    See  the  following  example : 


BERPIO^W  PACE 


! 


i 


Figr.  32.— T  i  Ber^uj,  (or  Verplus,)  in  Peace. 


228 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


If 

\ 


ellations,  tortures,  and  fiery  pangs  of  martyrdom,  such  as 
those  that  harrow  the  soul  in  many  of  the  churches  and 
picture-galleries  of  Rome.*  Only  images  of  joy  and  peace 
abound  on  every  side.  These  gloomy  crypts  are  a  school 
of  Christian  love  and  gentle  charity,  of  ennobling  thoughts 
and  elevating  impulses.  The  primitive  believers,  in  the 
midst  of  their  manifold  persecutions,  rejoiced  even  in 
tribulation.  "There  is  no  sign  of  mourning,"  says 
d'Agincourt,  "no  token  of  resentment,  no  expression 
of  vengeance;  all  breathes  of  gentleness,  benevolence, 
and  love."  "  To  look  at  the  Catacombs  alone,"  says 
Rochette,  "it  might  be  supposed  that  persecution  had 
no  victims,  since  Christianity  has  made  no  allusion  to 
suffering."  There  are  no  symbols  of  sorrow,  no  appeals 
to  the  morbid  sympathies  of  the  soul,  nothing  that  could 
cause  vindictive  feelings  even  toward  the  persecutors 
of  the  church ;  only  sweet  pastoral  scenes,  fruits,  flow- 
ers, palm  branches  and  laurel  crowns,  lambs  and  doves  ; 
nothing  but  what  suggests  a  feeling  of  joyous  innocence, 
as  of  the  world's  golden  age. 

The  use  of  pictorial  representations  appears  often  to 
have  been  a  matter  of  necessity.  Many  of  the  Chris- 
tians could  understand  no  other  written  language. 
Numerous  inscriptions,  by  the  extreme  ignorance  mani- 

*  See  especially  the  church  of  S.  Stefano  Rotondo,  where  is  a  chron- 
ological series  of  martyrdoms,  reprerented  in  all  their  direst  horrors, 
from  the  crucifixion  of  Our  Lord  to  the  reign  of  Julian.  Among 
other  grote^queries  is  a  picture  of  St.  Dionysius  walking  in  full  epis- 
copal robes  at  the  head  of  a  procession,  holding  his  head,  streaming 
with  blood,  in  iiis  hands ! 

The  desire  to  find  martyrs  has  led  over-zealou^  antiquarians  to  dis- 
cover instruments  of  torture  in  the  implements  of  trade  commonly 
represented  on  the  giavestones  of  the  Catacombs.  The  adz  and  saw 
of  the  carpenter  are  inade  to  do  duty  in  some  sensational  tale  of  chop- 
ping and  sawing  of  a  Christian  sufferer,  and  the  baker's  com  measure 
is  transformed  into  a  martyr's  fiery  furnace. 


Their  Symbolism, 


229 


fested — the  wretched  execution,  grammar,  and  spelling 
— show  the  lowly  and  unlettered  condition  of  those  who 
affixed  them  to  the  walls.*  The  relatives  cf  the  de- 
ceased would  naturally  desire  some  token  by  which  they 
might  recognize,  in  that  vast  and  monotonous  labyrinth 
of  graves,  the  tomb  of  their  departed  friend.  To  those 
ignorant  of  letters  an  inscription  would  but  ill  subserve 
this  purpose.  Hence  we  often  find  some  pictorial  repre- 
sentation, either  with  or  without  an  accompanying 
inscription,  on  the  tomb.  These  were  sometimes  rude 
figures  having  a  phonetic  correspondence  to  the  name 
of  the  deceased,  and  sometimes  the  emblems  of  his 
trade.  Of  the  former  kind  are  the  following  examples 
copied  from  the  walls  of  the  Lapidarian  Gallery : 

PONTIVS  •  LEO  .  SE  •  BIVO  •  FECIT  •  SIBI 
ET  PONTIA  •  MAZA  •  COZVS  •  VZVS.  («V.) 
FECERVNT  •  FILIO  •  SVG  •  APOLLINARI  •  BENB 
MSRENTI* 


"  Pontius  Leo  made  this  for  himself  while  living.     He  and  his  wife 
Pontia  Maxima  made  this  for  their  well-deserving  son,  ApoUinaris." 
Flff.  33.— Phonetic  SymboL 

The  friends  of  Leo  were  probably  unable  to  read  this 
inscription,  whose  atrocious  latinity  betrays  the  igno- 
rance of  the  mason  by  whom  it  was  executed,  and  there- 
fore had  engraved  upon  the  stone  the  rude  outline  of  a 
lion,  the  symbol  of  his  proper  name. 

Another  slab  bears  the  outline  of  a  little  pig,  the  picto- 
rial translation  of  the  somewhat  singular  name  Porcella. 
•  See  Figs.  122  to  128,  and  context. 


BtBB 


230 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


It  was,  perhaps,  a  term  of  endearment,  like  the  obsolete    ' 
English  "  Pigsney." 


PORCELLA  HIC  DORMIT  IN  P. 
Q*  VIXIT  ANN  •  lU  •  M  •  X  •  D  •  XIU* 


"  Here  sleeps  Porcella  in  peace.  She  lived  three  years,  ten  months, 
and  thirteen  days." 

Fiff.  34.— Phonetic  SsrmboL 

In  like  manner  the  tombs  of  Dracontius,  Vitulus,  and 
Onager,  bear  respectively  a  dragon,  a  steer,  and  an  ass, 
the  phonetic  synonymes  of  these  names.  These  figures 
may  in  some  cases  be  a  mere  pictorial  paronomasia,  but 
the  explanation  above  suggested  is  the  more  probable 
one.     In  the  following  example  this  is  almost  asserted  : 


NABIRA  TW  PACE  ANIMA  DVLCIS 

QVI  VIXIT  ANOS  XVI  •  M  •  V  • 

ANIMA  MELEIEA 

TITVLV  FACTV 

APARENTES  SIGNVM  NABE.  [jlV.] 


"  Navira  in  peace  ;  a  sweet  soul,  who  lived  sixteen  years  and  five 
months ;  a  soul  sweet  as  honey  ;  this  epitaph  was  made  by  her 
parents.    The  sign,  a  ship." 

Plfif.  35.— Phonef  c  Symbol. 

More  frequently  the  figures  had  reference  to  the  trade 
or  occupation  of  the  deceased,  as  in  the  following  epi- 
taph, probably  of  a  wool-comber,  found  by  Dr.  Mait- 
land  built  into  the  wall  of  the  Piazzo  di  Spagna,  in 
Rome.  Many  important  funeral  tablets,  both  Christian 
and  pagan,  have  been  thus  employed  for  the  commonest 


-I 


Their  Symboihm. 


2\\ 


purposes.  The  objects  in  the  engraving  are  probably 
the  shears,  comb,  ladle,  and  an  unknown  instrument 
used  for  cleansing  wool. 


"  To  Veneria,  in  pecce." 
F*fr.  36.— Wool-Ck>mber's  Implements. 

The  following,  from  the  Lapidarian  Gallery,  indicates 
the  trade  of  a  carpenter.  The  saw  and  adz  are  very 
like  those  now  employed : 


BAVTO  ET  MAXIMA  SE  VIVI 
FECERVNT. 


"  To  Bautus  and  Maxima.    They  made  this  during  their  lifetime.* 
Pifir.  37— Carpenter's  Tools. 


232 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


w 


! 


On  another  slab  is  a  figure,  probably  of  a  vine-dresser, 
in  a  short  Roman  tunic,  standing  near  a  wine  cask,  the 
symbol  of  his  occupation.  He  appears  to  be  starting 
to  the  field  with  his  mattock  on  his  shoulder,  and  in  his 
hand  is  a  wallet  containing,  perhaps,  the  provision  for 
the  day. 

GAVDENTIO  FECERVM  FRATRI 
QVI  VICSIC  ANNIS  XXVIII  •  M  •  VIII  •  D  •  XVII 


*^i,.^\ 

l\\Aj[y 

1  Vi    1  1           '       1  1  r^  \  V 

\1 

1  r  j  1    o    1 1  ti  )  X  ^ 

\  H  1 1            11  r\/    \ 

'^ 

^=^     <^ 

"  To  Gaudentius.     His  brothers  made  this.     He  lived  twenty-eight 
years,  eight  months,  seventeen  days." 

F\g.  38.— A  Vine-Dresser's  Tomb. 


■i 

,i 


In  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Agnes  is  a  fresco  of  husband- 
men carrying  a  wine  butt  on  their  shoulders,  the  mean- 
ing of  which  is  probably  the  same.  Mr.  Hemans  rather 
fantastically  interprets  this  symbol  as  implying  concord, 
or  the  union  of  the  faithful  bound  together  by  sacred 
ties,  as  the  staves  of  the  cask  are  by  its  hoops.*  Mait- 
land  translates  it  as  standing  for  a  proper  name.  We 
have  seen  examples  representing  fossors  at  work,f  and 
Fabretti  figures  the  slab  of  a  sculptor,  exhibiting  the  man- 
ufacture of  sarcophagi.    Other  examples  occur,  in  which 

♦  Sa(.  Art,  p.  43.  |  Figs.  23,  24, 


1  heir  Symbolism. 


233 


the  fuller's  tomb  is  indicated  by  mallets,  the  shoemaker's 
by  shoes  or  lasts,  the  baker's  by  loaves,  the  wood-feller's 
by  an  axe,  the  grocer's  by  scales,  and  the  like,  although 
the  meaning  of  some  of  these  figures  is  questioned.' 
Didron,  however,  presses  this  interpretation  of  these 
symbols  much  too  far,  making  the  djve,  fish,  anchor, 
and  sheep,  only  the  emblems  of  the  occupation  of  the 
fowler,  fisherman,  sailor,  and  shepherd,  respectively, 
thus  doing  violence  to  the  acknowledged  canons  of 
epigraphic  criticism  to  be  presently  indicated.* 

But  by  far  the  larger  proportion  of  these  symbols  have 
a  religious  significance,  and  refer  to  the  peace  and  joy 
of  the  Christian,  and  to  the  holy  hopes  of  a  life  beyond 
the  grave ;  and  many  of  them  were  derived  directly  f?  om 
the  language  of  Scripture.  They  were  often  of  a  very 
simple  and  rudimentary  character,  such  as  could  be 
easily  scratched  with  a  trowel  on  the  moist  plaster, 
or  traced  upon  the  stone.  They  were  sometimes,  how- 
ever, elaborately  represented  in  excellent  frescoes  or 
sculpture. 

*  Such  symbols  were  not  peculiar  to  Christian  tombs.  There  were 
many  pagan  examples  of  a  similar  character.  Thus  a  cultrarius,  or 
cutler,  has  knives ;  z.pullarius^  or  poulterer,  a  cage  or  coop  of  chickens ; 
a  tabellariuSf  and  postman,  a  writing  case ;  and  a  marmorarius,  or 
mason,  a  mallet  and  chisel,  on  his  tomb.  Sometimes  a  shop,  with 
customers  bargaining,  is  shown.  A  bag  or  purse  signifies  an  agent ; 
money,  a  banker ;  and  the  like.  The  ascia  or  axe,  so  common  on 
Roman  tombs,  probably  represents  a  sacrificial  instrument.  Anal- 
c^ous  to  these  are. the  sphere  and  cylinder  engraven  on  the  tomb  of 
Archimedes,  and  the  square  and  compasses  on  modem  masonic  mon- 
uments. In  the  Armenian  cemeteries  a  hammer,  trowel,  last,  scales, 
and  shears,  indicate  the  grave  of  a  carpenter,  mason,  shoemaker, 
grocer,  or  tailor.  In  the  Cemetery  de  I'Est,  at  Paris,  animals  act- 
ing mark  the  tomb  of  the  French  fabulist,  La  Fontaine  ;  masks,  that 
of  Moli^re ;  a  palette  or  brushes,  that  of  a  painter.  See  also  the 
naval  and  military  trophies  on  the  tombs  of  many  distinguished 
sailors  and  soldiers. 


234 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


The  beautiful  allusion  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Christian's 
hope  as  the  anchor  of  the  soul,  both  sure  and  steadfast, 
is  frequently  represented  in  the  Catacombs  by  the  out- 
line of  an  anchor,  often  rudely  drawn,  but  eloquent  with 
profoundest  meaning  to  the  mind  of  the  believer.  It 
assured  the  storm-tossed  voyager  on  life's  rough  sea 
that,  while  the  anchor  of  his  hope  was  cast  "within  the 
veil,"  his  life-bark  would  outride  the  fiercest  blasts  and 
wildest  waves  of  persecution,  and  at  last  glide  safely 
into  the  haven  of  everlasting  rest.  This  allusion  is 
made  more  apparent  when  it  is  observed  how  often  it  is 
found  on  the  tombstones  of  those  who  bear  the  name 
Hope,  in  its  Greek  or  Latin 
form,  as  Ei\niC,  EAniAlOC, 
SPES,etc.  In  the  accompany- 
ing example  it  is  displayed  oh 
a  Christian  patera.  This  sym- 
bol is  not  unknown  in  classic 
art.  It  occurs  on  a  ring  from 
Pompeii,  in  the  Museum  of 
Naples,  with  the  word  EAIIIC, 
}{ope.  ^ff'  30.— Symbolical  Anchor. 

Of  kindred  significance  with  this  is  the  symbol  of  a 
ship,  which  may  also  refer  to  the  soul  seeking  a  country 
out  of  sight,  as  the  ship  steers  to  a  land  beyond  the  hori- 
zon. Sometimes  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  type  of  the 
church ;  and  in  later  times  it  is  represented  as  steered 
by  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.*    The  symbol  of  "  the  heaven- 


*  Fig.  112.  This  symbol  is  designated  by  modem  Italians  La 
Navicella  di  San  Pietro — the  Bark  of  St.  Peter.  From  the  fian- 
cied  resemblance  of  the  body  of  the  church  to  a  ship,  or  from 
the  above  allusion,  the  word  nave,  applied  to  that  part,  has  been 
derived  as  if  from  ttavis,  a  ship.  May  it  not  possibly  be  from  vaAf, 
a  temple  ? 


Tlieir  Symbolism, 


•^35 


bound  ship  " — 7\  vavg  ovQaoSpuftovaa — is  mentioned  by 
Clement  of  Alexandria  as  being  in  vogue  in  the  second 
century.     This  figure  was  used  also  in  pagan  art  as  an 

emblem  of  the 
close  of  life,  and 
may  still  be  seen 
carved  on  a  tomb 
near  the  Nea- 
politan Gate  of 
Pompeii.  In  the 
Catacombs  the 
execution  of  the 
symbol  is  often 
PIff .  40.-S7mboUoal  Ship.  exceedingly 

rude,  the  design  being  apparently  copied  from  the 
clumsy  barges  of  the  Tiber.  The  mast  and  yard  some- 
times present  a  vague  imitation  of  the  cross.*  The  ac- 
companying figure  is  from  the  Lapidarian  Gallery  of 
the  Vatican.! 

The  palm  and  crown  are  symbols  that  frequently 
occur,  often  in  a  very  rude  form.  Although  common 
also  to  Jewish  J  and  pagan  art,  they  have  received  in 
Christian  symbolism  a  loftier  significance  than  they  ever 
possessed  before.    They  call  to  mind  that  great  multitude 

*  "  Arbor  quaedam  in  navi,"  says  St.  Ambrose,  "  est  crux  in  ecclesia." 
f  Compare  the  following  beautiful  passage  from  Tertullian,  in  which 
the  metaphor  is  elaborately  carried  out :  "  Amid  the  reefs  and  inlets, 
amid  the  shallows  and  straits  of  idolatry,  Fai'th,  her  sails  filled  with  the 
Spirit  of  God,  navigates ;  safe,  if  cautious,  secure,  if  intently  watch- 
ful. But  to  such  lis  are  washed  overboard  is  a  deep,  whence  is  no  out- 
swimming  ;  to  such  as  run  aground  is  inextricable  shipwreck  ;  to  such 
as  are  engulfed  is  a  whirlpool,  where  there  is  no  breathing  in  idol- 
atry. All  its  waves  suffocate  ;  every  eddy  drags  down  to  Hades. — De 
Idol.y  c.  24. 

X  Compare  2  Esdras  ii,  44,  45.  See  ante.  Fig.  18.  The  palm  ap- 
pears on  the  coins  of  Simon  Barchocab. 


f' 


*^*!$!5i|rl 


236 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


whom  no  mdn  can  number,  with  whom  Faith  sees  the  dear 

departed  walk  in  white,  bearing  palms  in  their  hands. 

The  crown  is  not  the  wreath  of  ivy  or  of  laurel,  of 

parsley  or  of  bay,  the  coveted  reward  of  the  ancient 

games ;  nor  the  chaplet  of  earthly  revelry,  which,  placed 

upon  the  heated  brow,  soon  fell  in  withered  garlands  to 

the  feet ;  but  the  crown  of  life,  starry  and  unwithering, 

the  immortal  wreath  of  glory  which  the  saints  shall  wear 

forever  at  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb.     They  are 

the  emblems  of  victory  over  the  latest  foe,  the  assurance 

that 

The  struggle  and  grief  are  all  past ; 
The  glory  and  worth  live  on. 

The  palm  and  crown  conjoined,  the  latter  encircling 
the  sacred  monogram,  are  represented  in  the  accompa- 
nying example  from  a  slab  in  the  Vatican  Library. 


Fiff.  41.— SymboUoal  Palm  and  Crown. 

The  palm  has  also  been  claimed,  but,  as  we  shall  see, 
without  any  warrant  whatever,  as  the  emblem  of  the 
martyrs  and  the  designation  of  their  tombs. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  symbols  of  the  Catacombs 
is  the  dove,  the  perpetual  synonym  of  peace.  Indeed, 
that  word  is  frequently  annexed  to  the  figure  as  if  to 
show  more  distinctly  its  meaning,  as  in  Figs.  42  and  43.* 
The  innocence  and  purity  of  the  dove  make  it  an  ap- 
propriate emblem  of  the  souls  of  departed  Christians, 
soaring  beyond  the  defilements  of  earth  to  the  peaceful 

♦  See  also  Figs.  15,  77,  and  82.  The  figures  are  often  very  con- 
ventional, and  look  more  like  geese  or  ducks  than  doves. 


Their  Symbolism, 


337 


blessedness  of  heaven.*  It  is,  therefore,  in  allusion  to 
this  thought  sometimes  accompanied  by  the  words, 
anima  innocens^  anima  simplex — "  innocent  soul,"  "  sim- 
ple soul."  Perhaps  there  may  be  also  a  reference  to 
the  admonition  of  Our  Lord,  "  Be  ye,  therefore,  .  .  . 
harmless  as  doves."  The  gentleness  and  tender  affec- 
tion of  these  beautiful  birds  make  them  an  emblem  of 
endearment  in  every  age,  as  is  strikingly  seen  in  the 
frequent  allusions  of  the  matchless  Song  of  Songs.  It 
may,  therefore,  be  often  employed  in  the  Catacombs  with 
reference  to  the  domestic  virtues  of  the  deceased,  and 
to  the  mutual  constancy  of  husband  and  wife.  The 
expression,  palumbus  situ  felU — "  a  dove  without  gall " — 
is  often  applied  in  Christian  epitaphs  to  the  departed, 
especially  in  its  diminutive  (orm—palumbulus  sine  felle — 
on  the  tombs  of  little  children,  as  if  the  bereaved  parents 
presented  their  babes  to  the  Lord,  like  the  turtle-doves 
and  young  pigeons  of  the  ancieat  Jewish  offering  of 
infant  consecration. 


"  In  the  Peace  of  God.** 
Flcr.  42.— Symbolical  Ooveck 

The  dove  generally  bears  in  its  beak  or  claws  an  olive 
branch,  the  sign  of  the  assuaging  of  the  waters  of  Divine 
vengeance  from  the  face  of  the  earth.    (See  Fig.  43.)   It 

*  See  Psa.  Ixviii,  13.      In  Mediaeval  art  the  soul  is  represented  is- 
suing from  the  mouth  of  the  dying  or  flying  through  the  air  in  the 
form  of  a  dove.    One  example  bears  the  inscription — anima  inter- 
fectorum — the  souls  of  the  slain. 


238 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


If 


is,   then,   as  TertuUian  expresses  it,  "  the  herald  of  tht 
peace  of  God." 


FliT*  43.— Symbolical  Dove.       Piff.  44.— Dovea  and  Vaae> 

Sometimes  •*  i**  seen  drinking  out  of  a  vase,  or  peck- 
ing at  grapes  or  olive  berries,  a  symbol  of  the  soul's 
enjoyment  of  the  fruits  and  refreshing  draughts  of  par- 
adise.* (See  Figs.  44  and  45.)  As  seen  sitting  on  the 
arms  of  the  cross,t  the  dove  is  an  appropriate  symbol 
of  the  peace  with  God  purchased  by  the  death  of  Our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.     The  dove  in  a  cage  may  imply  the 


l^ocyspWMI  ^ 


"  The  place  of  Primus." 
Figr.  45.— Dove  Eatingr  Olive  Berries. 


*  See  the  common  epigraphic  expression,  HIE  EN  9EQ — *'  Drink  In 
God,"  and  the  language  of  Augfustine  concerning  a  deceased  friend— 
"  Jam  ponit  spirituale  os  ad  fontem  tuum,  Domine,  et  bibit  quantum 
potest." — Con.,  ix,  3. 

f  See  Figs.  60  and  lo^    "  The  doves  which  perch  upon  the  cross,** 
says  Paulinus, "  show  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  open  to  the  simple  " — 
Quseque  super  signum  resident  caeleste  columbae 
Simplicibus  produnt  regna  patere  Dei. 


Their  Symbolism. 


239 


f 


faithful  under   persecution,  or  the  soul  imprisoned  in 
the  body. 

The  dove  was  also  used  in  the  Catacombs  as  the  sym- 
bol of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  representations  of  the  baptism 
of  Our  Lord,  and  is  described  by  Paulinus  as  similarly 
employed  in  the  church  of  Nola.*  Tertullim  f  applies 
toward  the  ecclesiastical  edifice  the  expression,  columba 
domus — "  house  of  the  dove  " — possibly,  however,  with 
reference  to  the  dove-like  religion  and  character  of  the 
Christians.  In  Mediaeval  art  the  Holy  Spirit,  'inder 
the  form  of  a  dove  wearing  a  cruciform  nimbus,  the 
symbol  of  divinity,  is  represented  brooding  over  the  face 
of  the  waters  of  primeval  chaos,  inspiring  the  prophets 
and  saints,  and  even  nailed  to  the  cross  above  the  cruci- 
fied body  of  Our  Lord.  This  sacred  emblem  of  the 
Paraclete,  the  Divine  Comforter,  by  a  monstrous  viola- 
tion of  propriety  was  emblazoned  upon  battle-flags,  and 
the  Holy  Name  given  to  a  military  order  and  to  ships 
of  war.J         41 

•  Per  columbam  Spiritus  Sanctus  fluit. — Ep.  ad  Sever. 

\  Contra  Valentin. ^  c.  iii.  Sometimes  a  gold  or  silver  dove  was 
placed  over  the  altar,  (Bing.,  viii,  6,  §  19,)  as  is  still  occasionally  seen 
even  in  Protestant  churches.  In  the  Middle  Ages  cliurches  and  abbeys 
were  named  from  this  symbol,  as  Santa  Columba  and  Sainte  Colombe, 
the  church  of  the  Holy  Dove.  They  were  also  dedicated  to  the  Holy 
Ghost  under  the  title  of  Saint  Paraclete,  Santo  Spirito,  and  Saint 
Esprit. 

X  According  to  an  apocryphal  Gospel,  the  Holy  Ghost  under  the 
form  of  a  dove  designated  Joseph  as  the  spouse  of  the  Virgin  Mary 
by  lighting  on  his  head  ;  and  in  the  same  manner,  says  Eusebius,  (vJ. 
29,)  was  Fabian  indicated  as  the  divinely  appointed  bishop  of  Rome. 
According  to  a  singular  legend,  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  form  of  a  dove 
was  present  at  the  Council  of  Nice,  and  signed  the  creed  that  was 
there  framed.  In  the  Arthurian  legend  a  snowy  dove  accompanied 
the  apparition  of  the  Holy  Grail.  In  the  fifteenth  century  a  pigeon 
which  lighted  on  the  tent  of  Edward  III.,  at  Calais,  was  thought  to  be  a 
manifestation  of  the  Holy  Ghost.    {Mimoires  de  Phil,  de  Commines, 


240 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


This  emblem  was  also  used  in  pagan  art.  The  light- 
winged  coursers  who  drew  the  airy  chariot  of  Venus 
were  doves.  From  the  oaks  of  Dodona  doves  uttered 
oracles  of  the  future.  A  dove  was  also  the  celestial 
messenger  cl  Ma'iomet.  The  olive,  too,  was  sacred  to 
Minerva,  and  as  the  symbol  of  peace  was  woven  into  the 
victor's  crown. 

Other  pagan  types  were  employed,  but  with  a  new  and 
nobler  Christian  significance.  Thus  the  peacock,  the 
proiid  bird  of  Juno,  frequently  appears  in  the  Cata- 
Ci>mbs,  not  as  the  symbol  of  the  all-seeing  eye  of  God, 
in  imitation  of  the  pagan  myth  of  the  hundred  eyes  of 
Argus,  but  as  the  emblem  of  immortality.*  Associated 
in  meaning  and  frequent- 
ly confounded  in  form 
with  the  peacock  was  the 
phconix,  the  marvellous 
story  of  whose  rejuvenes- 
cence fiom  the  ar  les  of  its 
funeral  pyre  Clement  of 
Rome  recounts  with  u.i- 
faltering  faith. f  Lactan- 
tius  makes  it  the  theme 

of   an  elaborate   poem,J; 

,  rr,     ^11-         -i.      -i.       ^fir.  46.--Symbolical  Peacock, 
and  Tertulhan  cites  it  as 

a  striking  illustration  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead.  §  It  was  also  considered  a  type  of  the  new 
birth  and  of  eternal  felicity.  The  cock,  generally  as- 
sociated with  St.  Peter,  ||  is  interpreted  as  the  symbol 

• 
iv,  lO.)  Seven  doves  hovering  around  the  head  of  Our  Lord  or  the 
Virgin  Maiy  symbolize,  in  Mediaeval  art,  the  seven-fold  gifts  of  the 

Spirit. 
*  See  Figs.  46, 89.      \  Ep.  ad  Corinth.,  §  25.       %  De  Phcenice, 
§  De  Resurrec.  Cam.,  c.  13.  |  See  Fig.  102 


aaaa 


'? 


Their  Symbolism. 


241 


of  unsleeping  vigilance;  it  is,  perhaps,  also  an  emblem 
or  suggestion  of  the  remorse  of  the  apostle  for  his 
denial  of  his  Lord. 

Another  adaptation  of  classic  symbolism  is  the  employ- 
ment of  the  stag,  the  attribute  of  Diana,  as  the  emblem  of 
the  Christian  thirsting  after  the  living  waters.  It  is  gener- 
ally represented  drinking  at  a  stream,  probably  in  allusion 
to  the  Psalmist's  panting  after  God  as  the  hart  after  the 
water-brooks.*  The  hare  sometimes  occurs,  an  appro- 
priate type  of  the  persecution  of  the  Christians,  hunted 
amid  those  secret  burrows  in  the  earth  like  rabbits  in 
their  warrens.  The  horse  is  interpreted  as  symbolizing 
eagerness  or  speed  in  running  the  Christian  race,  or,  per- 
haps, the  course  of  life  happily  accomplished  ;f  and  the 
lion,  fortitude  of  soul,  or,  from  the  notion  that  he  slept 
with  open  eyes,  vigilance  against  the  snares  of  sin.J  It 
is  remarkable  that  the  dog,  a  pagan  symbol  of  fidelity. 


*  Psa.  xlii,  I.     See  Fig.  132.  f  See  Fig.  115. 

^  In  later  art  this  figure  is  used  as  an  emblem  of  the  Lion  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  and  is  sometimes  represented  as  opening  the  apoca- 
lyptic book  with  seven  seals.  The  four  living  creatures  of  John's 
vision,  (chap,  iv,  6,  7,)  the  lion,  calf  or  ox,  eagle,  and  m?.n  or  angel, 
and  the  tetramorph  figun  of  that  of  Ezekiel,  (chap,  i,  ver.  10,)  became 
symbols  of  the  four  evangelists,  and  also  of  Christ. 

In  mediaeval  art  uncouth  and  grotesque  figures — "  Gorgons  and 
hydras  and  chimeras  dire" — took  the  place  of  the  bright  and 
genial  symbols  of  the  Catacombs.  To  the  terrified  imagination 
of  the  age  all  nature  swarmed  with  malignant  and  demoniac  be- 
ings, which  were  bodied  forth  in  the  dragons  and  griffins,  and  mon- 
strous forms  and  faces  that  haunt  the  gothic  minsters  and  abbeys,  es- 
pecially in  the  northern  countries  of  Europe,  where  the  savageness  of 
nature  is  reflected  in  the  weirdness  of  art.  Yet  even  in  its  distorted 
grotesqueness,  this  art  proved  its  moral  superiority  to  the  gay  and  joy- 
ous spirit  of  heathenism.  The  intense  consciousness  of  sin  and  evil, 
and  of  the  mortal  struggle  of  the  human  soul  with  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness which  it  manifested,  is  essentially  nobler  than  the  frivolous  sen- 
sualism of  ancient  art  and  life,  without  hope  or  fear  of  the  future. 

Id 


242 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


never  occurs  except  as  accessory  in  hunting  scenes  of 
manifestly  heathen  type;  probably  on  account  of  the 
abhorrence  of  this,  to  them,  unclean  beast,  by  the  Jews, 
who  so  largely  impressed  their  characteristics  on  Chris- 
tian thought  and  feeling.*  The  serpent,  a  common 
pagan  symbol,  and  with  the  cock  the  attribute  of  -^scu- 
lapius,  nowhere  appears  but  in  the  scene  of  the  temp- 
tation of  Eve  by  the  "  Old  Serpent,  the  Devil." 

The  vine  is  ati  appropriate  symbol  of  the  intimate 
union  of  the  believer  and  Christ,  and  the  olive  tree  of 
a  life  fruitful  in  good  deeds,  or  of  the  church,  in  whose 
sheltering  arms  all  souls  may  find  rest,  as  the  fowls  of 
the  air  in  the  boughs  of  a  tree.  Flowers  and  fruits  may 
be  the  emblems  of  future  beatitude ;  and  a  loaf,  of  the 
bread  of  life  or  of  the  holy  eucharist.  The  fountain  is 
a  type  of  the  living  waters,  and  the  lyre,  of  the  influence 
of  the  Divine  Orpheus.  The  lamp  and  the  light-house 
are  the  emblems  of  spiritual  illumination  through  the 
gospel.  The  balance -may  refer  to  the  just  dealing  of 
the  deceased,  or  perhaps  to  the  final  judgment  and  the 
Eastern  notion  of  psychostasy.f  The  house  probably 
indicates  the  tabernacle  of  the  body,  or  perhaps  the 
last  long  home  of  the  grave,  or  the  house  not  made  with 
hands  on  high.  Most  of  the  symbols,  however,  refer 
to  the  person  and  work  of  Christ,  as  the  central  and 


*  See  Job  xxx,  i ;  Psa.  xxii,  i6  ;  Matt,  vii,  6 ;  Phil,  iii,  2  ;  Rev.  xxii,  15. 

f  Compare  the  prophecy  of  Belshazzar's  doom — Dan.  v,  27.  To 
this  the  weighing  of  the  fates  of  Achilles  and  Hector  in  the  Iliad  is 
analogous.  (McCaul,  49.)  Several  of  these  symbols  are  often  associ- 
ated together.  Thus,  on  a  slab  bearing  date  A.  D.  400,  arc  crowded 
the  Constantinian  monogram,  the  balance,  mummy,  candelabrum  with 
seven  lights,  a  house,  and  fish.  On  a  marble  ambo  at  Ravenna  are 
six  series,  ten  in  each,  of  sheep,  peacocks,  doves,  stags,  ducks,  and 
fishes.  Whether  symbolical  or  not,  the  selection  is  a  remarkable 
parallel  to  many  of  the  figures  of  the  Catacombs. 


Their  Symbolism. 


243 


dominating  idea  of  the  church  of  the  Catacombs. 
Some  of  these  are  of  such  importance  and  of  so 
frequent  occurrence  as  to  demand  a  more  detailed 
examination. 

One  of  the  most  striking  and  beautiful  of  these  sym- 
bols is  that  which  represents  Christ  as  the  Good 
Shepherd,  and  believers  as  the  sheep  of  his  fold.  While 
the  doves,  as  we  have  seen,  may  be  regarded  as  emblem- 
atic of  the  beatified  spirits  of  the  departed,  the  sheep 
more  appropriately  symbolize  those  who,  still  in  the 
flesh,  go  in  and  out  and  find  pasture.  Suggesting  the 
thought  of  that  sweet  Hebrew  idyl*  of  which  the  world 
will  never  grow  tired ;  which,  lisped  by  the  pallid  lips 
of  the  dying  throughout  the  ages,  has  strengthened  their 
hearts  as  they  entered  the  dark  valley ;  and  to  which 
Our  Lord  lent  a  deeper  pathos  by  the  tender  parable 
of  the  lost  sheep — small  wonder  that  it  was  a  favourite 
type  of  that  unwearying  love  that  sought  the  erring  and 
the  outcast  and  brought  them  to  his  fold  again.  With 
reiterated  and  manifold  treatment  the  tender  story  is 
repeated  over  and  over  again,  making  the  gloomy  crypts 
bright  with  scenes  of  idyllic  beauty,  and  hallowed  with 
sacred  associations. 

This  symbol  very  happily  sets  forth  the  entire  scope 
of  Christian  doctrine.  It  illustrates  the  sweet  pastoral 
representations  of  man's  relationship  to  the  Shepherd 
of  Israel  who  leadeth  Joseph  like  a  flock, f  and  his  in- 
dividual dependence  upon  him  who  is  the  Shepherd  and 
Bishop  of  all  souls.  J  But  it  especially  illustrates  the 
character  and  office  of  Our  Lord,  and  the  many  passages 
of  Scripture  in  which  he  represents  himself  as  the 
Good  Shepherd,  who  forsook  his  eternal  throne  to  seek 
through  this  wilderness-world  the  lost  and  wandering 


♦  Psa.  xxiii. 


f  Psa.  Ixxx,  I. 


X  I  Pet.  ii,  25. 


244 


The  Catacombs  of  Rjin:. 


l! 


i; 


sheep,  to  save  whom  he  gave  his  life  that  he  might  bring 
them  to  the  evergreen  pastures  of  heaven. 

This  subject  undergoes  every  possible  variety  of  treat- 
ment and  is  endlessly  repeated — rudely  scratched  on 
funeral  slabs,  elaborately  sculptured  on  sarcophagi, 
moulded  on  lamps  and  vases,  graven  on  seals  and  rings, 
traced  in  gold  on  glass,  and  tainted  in  fresco,  generally 
in  the  most  prominent  and  honourable  position,  in  the 
vaulting  of  the  chambers  and  tympana  of  the  arcosolia* 
The  Good  Shepherd  is  generally  represented  as  a  youth- 
ful beardless  figure  in  a  short  Roman  tunic  and  buskins, 
bearing  tenderly  the  lost  sheep  which  he  has  found  and 
laid  upon  his  shoulders  with  rejoicing.  This  is  evidently 
not  a  personal  image,  but  an  allegorical  representation 
of  the  "  Lord  Jesus,  that  Great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep." 
He  is  generally  surrounded,  as  in  Fig.  47,  by  a  group 
of  fleecy  followers,  whose  action  and  attitude  indicate 
the  disposition  of  soul  and  manner  of  hearing  the 
word.  Some  are  listening  earnestly ;  others  are  more 
intent  on  cropping  the  herbage  at  their  feet,  the  types 
of  those  occupied  with  the  cares  and  pleasures  and 
riches  of  this  world.  A  truant  ram  is  turning  heedlessly 
away,  as  if  refusing  to  listen  ;  and  often  a  gentle  ewe 
nestles  fondly  at  the  shepherd's  feet  or  tenderly  caresses 
his  hand.  An  early  Christian  writer,  contemporary  with 
this  primitive  art,  furnishes  an  interpretation  of  these 
pictures.  He  compares  the  poor  of  this  world  to  sheep 
in  a  barren  desert ;  finding  no  allurements  here  below, 
they  seek  after  those  things  which  are  above.  The  rich, 
on  the  contrary,  are  like  sheep  in  a  pleasant  pasture,  with 
heads  and  hearts  always  intent  on  the  things  of  earth. 
Frequently  a  shower  of  rain,  or  of  water  from  a  rock — 
the  emblem  of  the  dews  of  grace  or  the  waters  of  sal- 

♦  See  Fig.  105. 


\ 


1^1- 


Their  Symbolism. 


245 


r 


vation — falls,  abundantly  on  the  listening  sheep,  scantily 
on  those  that  are  feeding,  not  at  all  on  the  one  that  is 
turning  away. 


Fiir*  47.— The  Good  Shepherd. 

Sometimes  ilic  sheep  appears  to  nestle  with  an  ex- 
pression of  human  tenderness  and  love  on  the  shep- 
herd's shoulders ;  in  other  examples  it  is  more  or  less 
firmly  held  with  one  or  both  hands,  as  if  to  prevent  its 
escape.  In  a  few  instances  the  fold  is  seen  in  the  back- 
gnund,  which  seems  to  complete  the  allegory.  Fre- 
quei>tly  the  shepherd  carries  a  staff  or  crook  in  his 
hand,  on  which  he  sometimes  leans,  as  if  weary  beneath 
his  burden.  He  is  sometimes  even  represented  sitting 
on  a  mound,  as  if  overcome  with  fatigue,  thus  recalling 
the  pathetic  words  of  the  Dies  Ira  : 

Quaerens  me  sedisti  lassus. 

Occasionally  he  is  represented  with  a  musical  instru- 
ment, like  the  classical  syrinx  or  Pan's-pipe,  in  his  hand, 
as  in  Fig.  48,  as  if  to  indicate  the  sweet  persuasive  in- 
fluence of  his  word.  In  allusion  to  this  thought  Greg- 
ory Nazianzen  remarks,  "  The  Good  Shepherd  will  at 
one  time  give  his  sheep  rest,  and  at  another  time  lead 


I 

111 


iJ! 


I 


246 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


and  direct  them,  with  his  staff  seldom,  more  generally 
with  his  pipe."  In  a  fresco  in  the  Catacomb  of  St. 
Agnes  the  shepherd's  tenderness  and  pity  are  contrasted 
with  the  mercenary  harshness  of  the  hireling  who  careth 
not  for  the  sheep,  and  who  rudely  seizes  by  the  leg  one 
that  struggles  to  get  free,  while  the  Good  Shepherd 
merely  calls  his  sheep,  and  they  hear  his  voice  and  fol- 
low him.  Sometimes  an  Orpheus,  to  whose  lyre  the 
sheep  seem  to  listen  with  pleased  attention,  takes  the 
place  of  the  Good  Shepherd. 


Pigr.  48.— Good  Shepherd  with  Syrinx. 

Sometimes  the  shepherd  is  represented  as  leading  or 
bearing  on  his  shoulders  a  kid  or  goat  instead  of  a  sheep 
or  lamb.  This  apparent  solecism  has  been  thought  a 
careless  imitation  of  pagan  figures  of  the  sylvan  deity 
Pan,  who  frequently  appears  in  art  in  this  manner.  It 
is  more  probable,  however,  that  it  was  an  intentional 
departure  from  the  usual  type,  as  if  to  illustrate  the 


! 


Their  Symbolism. 


247 


words  of  Our  Lord,  "  I  am  not  come  to  call  the  right- 
eous, bvt  sinners  to  repentance,"  and  to  indicate  his 
tenderness  toward  the  fallen,  rejoicing  more  over  the  lost 
sheep  that  was  found  than  over  the  ninety  and  nine  that 
went  not  astray.  It  was  also,  probably,  designed  as  a 
protest  against  the  rigour  of  the  Novatians  in  refusing 
reconciliation  to  penitent  apostates.  Sometimes  Our 
Lord,  thus  symbolically  represented,  is  accompanied  by 
one  or  more  of  his  disciples,  as  under-shepherds  to 
whom  is  given  command  to  feed  the  flock  of  Christ,  over 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  had  made  them  overseers. 

In  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Agnes  is  a  remarkable  fresco 
of  a  lamb  between  two  wolves,  over  which  is  written 
the  word  seniores,  evidently  an  allegorical  representa- 
tion of  the  story  of  Susanna  and  the  elders,  and  in 
mystic  form  an  image  of  the  church  surrounded  by  per- 
secution, or  an  illustration  of  the  words  of  Our  Lord, 
"Behold,  I  send  you  forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of 
wolves." 

The  figure  of  the  Good  Shepherd  has  been  a  favourite 
symbol  in  every  age,  and  was  common  in  pagan  art. 
Mercury  was  worshipped  under  the  name  Criophorus, 
or  the  Ram-bearer,  and  was  thus  represented  in  paint- 
ing and  statuary.*  More  frequently  the  god  Pan  appears 
under  that  figure,  generally  bearing  in  his  hand  the  sim- 
ple instrument  to  which  he  has  given  his  name.  The 
Roman  poets  employ  this  sweet  pastoral  image  in  their 
beautiful  eclogues  f  to  illustrate  the  shepherd's  tender 
care  for  his  flock,  gently  bearing  the  lambs  in  his  arms 
or  on  his  shoulders,  recalling  the  inspired  language  in 
which  Isaiah  depicts  the  Almighty's  loving-kindnesi  to- 
ward his  people. t     From  this  outward  resemblance  be- 

*  Pausanias,  lib.  x. 

f  TibuUus, £/i?^.,  ii,  n,  12  ;  Calpum.,  Ec'og.,  v,39.      %  Isa.  x(,  ij. 


248 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


tween  the  pagan  and  Christian  themes,  Raoul-Rochette 
has  imagined  that  the  frescoes  of  the  Catacombs  were 
careless  imitations  of  the  heathen  type,  overlooking 
their  distinctively  Christian  interpretation.  But  the 
naked  fauns  dancing  with  the  nymphs  of  pagan  art,  as 
in  the  tomb  of  the  Nasos,  are  infinitely  removed  from 
the  sweet  and  tender  grace  of  the  Christian  "  Pastor 
Bonus."  TertuUian,  in  the  second  century,  speaks  of 
chalices  on  which  were  paintings  of  the  Good  Shepherd 
and  the  lost  sheep.*  Eusebius  says  that  Constantine 
placed  a  statue  of  this  subject  in  the  forum  of  Constan- 
tinople. It  also  appears  in  mosaic  at  Ravenna,  A.  D. 
440,  and  in  a  Catacomb  at  Cyrene  in  Africa. f 

But  Our  Lord  is  sometimes  represented  as  a  lamb  in- 
stead of  a  shepherd.J     Indeed,  this  symbol  is  no  less 

*  Patrocinabitur  Pastor,  quern  in  calice  depingitis.  A  parabolis  lice- 
bit  incipias,  ubi  est  ovis  perdita,  a  Domino  requisita  et  humeris  ejus 
revecta. — De  Pudicit,  ii  and  x. 

f  The  later  Christian  poets  also  celebrated  this  tender  theme.  In 
lines  whose  lyric  cadence  charm  the  ear  like  a  shepherd's  pipe 
Thomas  Aquinas  sings : 


Bone  Pastor,  pan  is  vere, 
Jesu,  nostri  miserere, 
Tu  nos  pasce,  nos  tuere  ; 
Tu  nos  bona  fac  videre, 
In  terra  viventium. 


Tu  qui  cuncta  scis  et  vales, 
Qui  nos  pascis  hie  mortales 
Tuos  ibi  commensales 
Cohaeredes  et  sodales 
Fac  sanctorum  civium. 


Another  Mediaeval  hymn  runs  sweetly  thus : 

Jesu  dulcissime,  e  throno  gloriae 
Ovem  deperditam  venisti  quaerere  ! 
Jesu  suavissime,  pastor  fidissime. 
Ad  te  O  trahe  me,  ut  sen;  per  sequar  te ! 

^  In  a  distich  accompanying  an  Ag;*us  Dei  in  the  church  of  St. 
Fudentiana  at  Rome,  both  characters  are  ascribed  to  Our  Lord  : 

Hie  agnus  mundum  restaurat  sanguine  lapsum, 
Mortuus  et  vivus  idem  sum,  pastor  et  agnus. 


Pf.t 


k 


Their  Symbolism. 


249 


I 


appropriate  than  the  one  just  considered,  and  has 
equally  the  sanction  of  Scripture.  The  manifold  sacri- 
fices of  the  tabernacle  and  temple  all  pointed  to  the 
Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  the  true 
Passover  of  mankind.  The  immaculate  purity,  gentle- 
ness, and  divine  affection  of  the  Redeemer,  and  his 
patience  under  affliction  and  persecution,  make  this 
beautiful  symbol  an  appropriate  type  of  his  innocence 
and  sufferings  as  he  was  led  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter, 
and,  as  a  sheep  dumb  before  its  shearers,  opened  not 
his  mouth.*  In  the  devout  recognition  of  Our  Lord  by 
John  the  Baptist,f  and  in  the  sublime  visions  of  the 
Apocalypse,  J  he  is  thus  fig- 
uratively represented ;  and  to 
this  divine  Lamb  is  chanted 
evermore  the  song  of  praise 
and  honour  and  thanksgiv- 
ing. § 

In  the  accompanying  en- 
graving from  a  sarcophagus 
in  the  Lateran,  of  the  fourth 
or  fifth  century,  the  lamb, 
wearing  the  nimbus  in  which 
are  inscribed  the  sacred  mon- 
ogram and  the  letters  Al- 
pha and  Omega,  the  emblems 

r  J-    •    •.  4.      J-  Piar.  49.— Lamb  ajB  Symbol  of 

of  divmity,  is  standmg  upon  Christ. 


"  This  Lamb  restores  the  lost  world  with  his  blood.  Dead  and  living, 
I  am  but  one ;  I  am  at  once  the  Shepherd  and  the  Lamb." 

Paulinus  beautifully  says :  "  The  same  Lamb  and  Shepherd  rules  us 
in  the  world  who  from  wolves  has  made  us  lambs.  He  is  now  the 
Shepherd  of  those  sheep  for  whom  he  was  once  the  victim  Lamb." 
— Epis,  iii,  ad  Florent. 

*  Isa.  liii,  7.        f  John  i,  19.  |  Rev.  v,  6.        §  Ibid.,  v,  X2. 


250 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


a  hillock,  perhaps  tended  for  Mount  Zion,*  from 
which  flow  four  strev»»  .i,  probably  the  *'  river  of  water  of 
life,  .  .  .  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the 
Lamb,"  and  dividing  toward  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth. 
These  streams  are  also  variously  interpreted  as  signi- 
fying the  four  evangelists,  and  the  four  rivers  of  para- 
dise.f  On  a  sarcophagus  of  later  date  Our  Lord  is 
represented  in  human  form  with  a  scroll  in  his  hand, 
standing  on  a  mound  from  which  the  four  mystical 
rivers  flow,  and  by  his  side  a  lamb  bearing  a  Latin 
cross  on  its  head.  On  either  side  are  lambs,  personi- 
fications of  the  apostles,  to  whom  he  is  giving  the 
final  commission  to  preach  in  all  lands  the  gospel  con- 
tained in  the  scroll  which  he  holds,  and  to  baptize 
with  the  sacred  waters  at  their  feet.  Sometimes 
twelve  lambs  are  represented  approaching  one  in 
the  centre,  as  in  frescoes  in  St.  Clement's  at  Rome,  and 
at  Ravenna.  On  a  gilt  glass  patera  in  the  Vatican  Li- 
brary the  lambs  are  seen  to  issue  from  Jerusalem  and 
Bethlehem,  as  indicated  by  their  names  written  above, 
and  to  approach  Mount  Zion,  from  which  flow  the 
four  evangelical  streams  united  in  the  mystical  Jordan. 
This  is  perhaps  emblematic  of  the  twelve  tribes,  or 
of  the  gentiles  coming  from  the  east  and  west  to  drink 
of  the  water  of  life,,     Paulinus   describes  a  mosaic  in 

*  "  And  I  looked,  and,  lo,  a  Lamb  stood  on  the  Mount  Sion." — Rev. 
xiv,  I. 

f  Paulinus  thus  describes  a  mosaic  of  this  subject  at  Fondi,  {Epis. 
xii,  ad  Severum  .•) 

Petram  superstat,  ip^e  petra  ecclesise, 
Ex  qua  sonori  quatuor  fontes  meant, 
Evangelists,  viva  Christ!  flumiila. 

"  Standing  upon  a  rock  ia  lie  who  is  himself  the  Rock  of  the  church, 
and  from  this  go  forth  four  voiceful  streams,  evangelists,  the  living  riv< 
ers  of  Christ." 

The  Agnus  Dei  is  still  often  seen  on  altar  cloths  and  tombstones. 


Tlieir  Symbolism. 


251 


his  basilica  of  Fondi,  where  a  cross  symbolical  of  Christ 
was  placed  on  the  rock,  and  tno  flocks,  of  sheep  and 
goats  respectively,  stood  around  it.  "  The  shepherd 
turns  away,"  he  says,  "the  goats  on  the  left,  and  em- 
braces with  his  right  hand  the  well-deserving  lambs."* 
This  was  perhaps  the  first  of  that  series  of  art-presenta- 
tions of  the  last  judgment  which  culminates  in  the  tragic 
terrors  of  the  Sistine  Chapel. 

Sometimes  a  milk-pail  is  representee"  "<ear  a  lamb,  or 
hanging  on  a  crook  by  its  side,  or  even  resting  on  its 
back.  Sometimes  also  it  is  carried  by  the  Good  Shep- 
herd. This  has  been  magnified  without  due  evidence 
into  a  symbol  of  the  eucharist.  It  might  more  natu- 
rally be  regarded  as  an  emblem  of  the  blessings  of  sal- 
vation, set  forth  by  Isaiah  under  the  figure  of  wine  and 
milk,  or  it  may  refer  to  the  soul's  being  fed  with  the 
sincere  milk  of  the  word. 

On  the  sarcophagus  of  Junius  Bassus  in  the  crypts 
of  St.  Peter's,  of  date  A.  D.  359,  are  exhibited  several 
scenes  from  scripture  history,  which  will  be  hereafter 
described.  In  the  spandrels  of  the  arches  over  these 
is  a  series  of  bas  reliefs,  in  which  lambs  are  naively 
shown  as  enacting  other  scriptural  scenes.  In  one  a  lamb, 
the  personification  of  Moses,  strikes  a  rock  from  which  the 
water  bursts  forth,  and  another  receives  the  law  from  the 
hand  of  God.  Three  lambs  in  a  fiery  furnace  represent 
the  three  Hebrew  children  in  the  furnace  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar. Our  Lord  is  symbolized  by  a  lamb  on  whose 
head  another,  personifying  John  the  Baptist,  is  pouring 

*  Et  quia  celsa  (crux)  qnasi  judex  de  rupe  superstat, 
Bis  geminae  pecudis  discors  agnis  genus  haedi 
Circumstant  solium  ;  laevos  avertitur  haedos 
Pastor  et  emeritos  dextra  complectitur  agnos. 

— Epis.  xii,  ad  Sulpic.  Sever. 


ti  ; 


252 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


the  waters  of  baptism,  while  the  Holy  (ihost  in  the  form 
of  a  dove  breathes  divine  grare.  A  lamb,  the  personi- 
fication of  Christ,  multiplies  the  loaves,  and  brings  forth 
Lazarus  from  the  grave. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  and  important,  in  its  theo- 
logical significance,  of  the  symbols  of  the  Catacombs 
is  that  of  the  fish.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  entire 
hieratic  cycle.  It  is  found  accompanying  the  first  dated 
inscription  which  bears  any  emblem  whatever.*  and 
nearly  a  hundred  examples  occur  which  are  attributed 
to  the  first  three  centuries.  It  was  also  one  of  the  first 
to  be  discontinued.  During  the  fourth  century  it  rap- 
idly fell  into  disuse,  and  by  the  beginning  of  the  fifth 
had  almost  entirely  disappeared  from  religious  art.f 

'J  he  abandonment  of  this  remarkable  figure  may  be 
explained  by  its  mysterious  and  anagrammatic  charac- 
ter. It  is  a  striking  illustration  of  that  disciplina  arcana 
of  the  primitive  church  which  employed  signs  whose 
secret  meaning  its  heathen  foes  could  not  understand. 
When  the  age  of  persecution  passed  away  there  was  no 
longer  the  necessity  to  conceal  under  allusions  and  em- 
blems, known  only  to  the  initiated,  religious  truths  which 
were  openly  proclaimed  on  every  hand.  Hence  this 
purely  conventional  sign  fell  into  disuse. 

This  symbol  probably  derived  its  origin  from  the  fact 

♦  A.  D.  234.  De  Rossi,  Inscript.  Christ.,  No.  6.  (See  Fig.  52.)  Of 
course,  there  may  have  been  many  earlier  whose  precise  date  we  caa- 
nf»t  determine. 

f  In  later  art,  indeed,  the  figure  sometimes  occurs  on  baptismal 
fonts,  in  mosaics,  and  in  architecture,  but  probably  as  a  mere  orna- 
ment, without  any  religious  meaning.  In  Byzantine  art  it  is  unknown 
except  as  a  natural  representation,  for  example,  of  fish  swimming  in 
the  water,  or,  in  frescoes  of  the  last  judgment,  as  restoring  human 
limbs  which  they  had  devoured,  illustrative  of  the  passage,  "  And  the 
fcea  gave  up  the  dead  which  were  in  it." — Rev.  xx,  13. 


Their  Symbolism. 


253 


that  the  initial  letters  of  the  names  and  titles  of  Our 
Lord  in  dreek — '\i\navf;  Xptffxdf,  GcoOTid^,  ^hivfftf^  Jesus 
Christ,  Son  of  Clod,  the  Saviour — make  up  the  word 
IX9T2,  a  fish.  "  This  single  word,"  says  Optatus,  **  con- 
tains a  host  of  sacred  names."*  The  same  word  also 
occurs  acrostically  in  the  initial  letters  of  certain  so- 
called  Sibylline  verses  quoted  by  Eusebiusf  and  Au- 
gustine,^ which  were  doubtless  of  Christian  origin.  The 
symbol  is  first  mentioned  by  Clement  of  Alexandria,  § 
and  probably  had  its  origin  in  the  allegorizing  school  of 
Christianity  which  sprang  up  in  that  city.  \ 
,  There  appears  also  to  have  been  an  allusion  in  this 
figure  to  the  ordinance  of  baptism.  "  We  are  little 
fishes,"  says  Tertullinn,  "in  Christ  our  great  fish.  For 
we  are  born  in  water,  and  can  only  be  saved  by  contin- 
uing therein,"^  that  is,  through  the  spiritual  grace  of 
which  baptism  is  the  visible  sign.  "  This  sign,"  says 
Clement,  "will  prevent  men  from  forgetting  their  origin." 
"  He  (that  is,  Christ)  is  that  fish,"  says  Optatus,  "  which 
in  baptism  descends  in  answer  to  prayer  into  the  bap- 
tismal font,  so  that  what  was  before  water  is  now  called, 


*  Piscis  nomen,  secundum  appellationem  Gnecam,  in  uno  nomine 
p>er  singulas  liters'.s  turbam  sanctorum  nominum  continet  '1X0Y2,'  quod 
est  Latine,  Jests  Christus,  Dei  Filius,  Salvator. — Optat.,  Cont.  Par- 
men.,  lib.,  iii. 

f  Orat.  Const,  ad  Cast.  Sanct.,  §  18.         X  ^'  ^*^"  ^<^»  xviii,  23. 

§  Padag.,  lib.  iii,  cap.  ii.  The  symbol  also  occurs  in  a  Christian 
Catacomb  at  Alexandria,  and  at  Cyrene,  in  Upper  Egypt. 

I  The  Jewish  Christians  of  that  city  would  be  already  familiar  with 
this  mode  of  coining  significant  titles,  which  is  illustrated  in  the  name 
of  their  natio^'al  heroes,  the  Maccabees,  said  to  be  made  up  o."  the 
initial  letteni,  "ns^Ta,  of  their  battle  cry,  XVT^  C^nJfita  n5J:3""'>a 
— "  Who  is  like  unto  thee,  O  Lord,  among  the  gods  ?  " 

^  Nos,  pisciculi  secundum  1X9TN  nostrum  Jesum  Christum,  in 
aqua  nascimur,  nee  aliter  quam  in  aqua  permanendo  salvi  sumus. — 
De  Baptismo,  cap.  i. 


254 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


M 


from  the  fish,  (a  pisce.^  piscina^'''  Even  the  mythical 
fish  mentioned  in  the  apocryphal  book  of  Tobit,t  occa- 
sional pictures  of  which  occur  in  the  Catacombs,  is 
interpreted  by  some  of  the  Fathers  as  typifying  Our 
Lord.  "  That  fish  which  came  alive  out  of  the  river  to 
Tobias,"  says  Augustine,  "  whose  heart,  (liver,)  consumed 
by  passion,  put  the  demon  to  flight,  was  Christ."  J 

This  sacred  sign  was  also  regarded  as  an  emblem  of 
the  sufferings  of  Our  Lord  and  the  benefits  of  his  atone- 
ment. **  The  Saviour,  the  Son  of  God,"  says  Prosper 
of  Aquitania,  "  is  a  fish  prepared  in  his  passion,  by  whose 
interior  remedies  we  are  daily  enlightened  and  fed."  § 
"  IX6TS  is  the  mystical  name  of  Christ,"  says  Augustine, 
"  because  he  descended  alive  into  the  depths  of  this 
mortal  life  aa  into  the  abyss  of  waters."  ||  "  The  fit.'^  in 
whose  mouth  was  the  coin  paid  as  the  tribute  money," 
says  Jerome,  "was  Christ,  at  the  cost  of  whose  blood 
all  sinners  were  redeemed."  Origen  merely  speaks  of 
him  as  "  figuratively  called  the  fish."  ^  "  Thus  this  sym- 
bol became,"  says  Dr.  Northcote,  "  a  sacred  tessera^  err. 
bodying   with    wonderful    brevity   and    distinctness    a 


*  Hie  (so.  Christus)  est  piscis  qui  in  baptismate  per  invocationem 
fontalibus  undis  inseritur  ut  quse  aqna  faerai:  a  pisce  etiatn  piscina 
vocitetur. — Epis.  Milcvitantts.  The  piscina  is  now  the  basin  in 
which  the  sacred  vessels  are  washed. 

{  See  chaps,  vi  and  xi. 

\  Est  Christus  piscis  ille  qui  ad  Tcbian?  ascendit  de  flumine  vivus, 
cujus  jecore  per  passionem  assato  fugatus  est  diabolus. 

§  Dei  Filius,  Salvator,  piscis  in  sua  passione  decoctus,  cujus  ex 
interioribus  remediis  quotidie  illuminamur  et  pascimur. — De  Promis. 
et  Pradic.  Dei^  ii,  39. 

\  IX0Y2,  in  quo  nomine  mystice  intelligitur  Christus,  eo  quod  in 
hujus  mortalitatis  abysso,  velut  in  aquaruni  profunditate  vivus.— Z>^ 
Civ.  Dei, 

^  Xptaroc  6  TpoTTtKug  Xeyofievog  'I;f^i5f. — 0pp.  ed.  Bened.,  torn,  iii, 

p.  584. 


Their  Symbolism, 


255 


complete  abridgment  of  the  creed — a  profession  of 
faith,  as  it  were,  both  in  the  two  natures  and  unity  of 
person,  and  in  the  redemptorial  office,  of  Our  Blessed 
Lord."* 

Few  symbols,  if  any,  were  more  common  than  this. 
It  occurs  rudely  scratched  on  funeral  slabs,  painted  in 
the  cubicula^  sculptured  on  the  sarcophagi,  moulded  on 
iamps,f  engraven  on  rings  and  seals,J  carved  in  ivory, 
mother-of-pearl,  and  precious  stones,  and  cast  in  bronze 
or  glass.  These  last,  often  pierced  in  order  to  be  worn 
like  an  amulet,  were  frequently  given  to  the  neophyte 
at  baptism  to  remind  him  of  the  privileges  and  obliga- 
tions which  it  conferred,  and  they  are  often  found  buried 
with  the  dead.  One  of  these  has  engraved  upon  it  the 
word  2i2IIAI2 — "  Mayest  thou  save  us ;  "  and  a  sepulchral 
lamp,  besides  representations  of  fishes,  bears  the  word 
IX9T2,  and,  as  if  in  explanation,  the  cyphers  A.  Q.,  IH. 
Xe.  i:rzTHP— that  is.  The  First  and  the  Last,  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Saviour.  A  slab,  on  which  are  engraved  two  fishes 
and  an  anchor,  bears  the  inscription,  IX0T2  ZQNTQN — 
"The  fish  of  the  living."  Sometimes  this  sacred  sign  is 
inscribed  on  pagan  tombstones  used  to  close  the  loculi 
of  the  Catacombs,  in  order  to  give  them  a  Christian 
character.  Frequently  the  execution  is  exceedingly 
rude,  as  in  Fig.  50 ;  occasionally  it  is  of  a  more  artistic 
form,  as  in  Fig.  -^<:;^      ^^     ^o^ 

51.      It    seldom       ^.^^ —  -       \.s\  ^ 

occurs    alone,      f  ^  ^..^^ — "  "  ^NX 

however,  but  as-    C->    X^'^^ 

sociated     with 

,  . .    .    .  Piflr.  50.-Bymbollcal  PWh. 

other    Christian 


*  /?om.  So/f.f  p.  210.     Probably  the  aureole  of  Mediaeval  art  de- 
rived its  name  of  vesica  piscis  from  this  symbol, 
f  See  Fig.  113.  %  See  Fig.  u8. 


256 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\ 


. 


Fier.  61.-S3rmbolical  Pish, 


emblems,  as  the  anchor  or  dove,  (see  Figs.  52  and  53,) 

as  if  to  indicate  that 
the  deceased  rests  in 
Christ,  in  hope  and 
in  peace.  Sometimes 
the  fish  bears  a  wreath 
in  its  mouth,  perhaps 
in  alhision  to  the  crown  which  Christ  will  give  to  all  his 

saints.  Didron  ob- 
jects to  applying 
these  symbols  to 
Christ,  because  the 
fish  does  not  wear 
the  nimbus.  But 
the  nimbus  was  not 
worn  at  all  at  this 
early  period ;  such 


Fig.  62.— Fish  and  Anchor. 
From  ih6   Catitcomh  of  IhrmfH.     Ectrliest  cUited 
eatntmple,  A.  D.  234 


a  criterion  is  therefore  inadmissible. 


Plfir.  53.— Pish  and  Dove. 

From  the  Catiicomh  of  St.  PrisciUa. 


This  sa- 
c  r  e  d  fish 
is  sometimes 
represented, 
as  in  Fig.  54, 
f  ro  m  the 
crypt  of  St. 
Lucina,  bear- 


ing what  seems  to  be  a  basket  of  bread  and  a  flagon  of 

wine  on  its  back,  or  occasionally  a 
loaf  of  bread  in  its  mouth.  In  these 
cases  there  is  probably  a  reference 
to  the  bread  of  life  which  Christ 
breaks  to  his  disciples,  or  possibly 
to  the  holy  eucharist.     Sometimes 

a  bird  is  pictured  as   deriving   nourishment  from  the 


Pifir 


64.— Bucharlsttc 
Symbol. 


Their  Symbolism. 


257 


mouth  of  a  fish,  the  symbol  of  a  soul  receiving  refresh- 
ment from  Christ.  The  eucharist  is  also  thought  to  be 
indicated  by  frequent  representations  of  a  fish  and  bread 
on  a  table,  sometimes  with  a  figure  in  prayer  standing  by ; 
and  also  by  a.  ol  ^*^ure  of  sev<;n  persons  eating  a  repast 
of  bread  and  fish  together,  probably  Christ  dining  with 
the  disciples  by  the  ';  ,a-shore  after  his  resurrection. 

Melito  of  Sardis  speaks  of  Our  Lord  under  the  fig- 
ure of  a  fish  broiled  on  the  fire  of  tribulation.*  A  mys- 
tical interpretation  wa>  also  given  to  the  loaves  and 
fishes  multiplied  by  Christ  for  the  feeding  of  the  multi- 
tude, as  indicating  the  sevenfold  gifts  of  the  Spirit  and 
the  dispensations  of  the  law  and  the  gospel.f 

A  remarkable  Greek  inscription,  found  about  thirty 
years  ago  in  an  ancient  Christian  cemetery  at  Autun,  in 
France,  throws  much  light  on  the  profound  religious 
significance  of  the  symbol  of  the  fish. J  Its  date,  as  in- 
dicated by  the  character  of  the  epigraphy,  in  the  opin- 
ion oi"  the  most  eminent  critics,  is  about  the  year  400.  § 
The  language  is  of  Homeric  purity  and  vigour,  which  is 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  Autun  was,  during  the 
fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  a  sort  of  "  French  Eton,"  where 
Greek,  the  tongue  "of  Homer  and  the  gods,"  was  sed- 
ulously cultivated.     The  following  is  the  text  as  restored 

*  Piscis  .  .  .  Christus  tribulationis  igne  assatus.  Compare  the 
phrase  of  Augustine — Piscis  assus  Christus  passus. 

f  Plerique  septiformis  Spiritus  gratiam  in  panibus  definitam,  in 
piscibus  quoque  duplicis  testamenti  figuram  intelligendam  putant. 
— Ambrose,  in  Luc.  ix. 

\  This  has  been  minutely  examined  by  Cardinal  Pitra — its  discov- 
erer— Kirchoff.  Garrucci,  Le  Blant,  and  other  eminent  scholars.  The 
monograph  of  Marriott,  its  latest  editor,  is  a  masterpiece  of  epigraph- 
ical  criticism. 

■  ^  Cardinal  Pitra  places  it  about  A.  D.  250,  but  the  elongated  form 
of  the  letters,  of  which  there  is  no  early  example,  forbids  the  sup- 
position. 

n   * 


258 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


and  translated  by  Marriott.  It  will  be  perceived  that 
the  word  IX6TII  occurs  acrostically  in  the  initial  letters 
of  the  first  five  lines,  and  is  found  four  times  in  the  body 
of  the  inscription.  It  is  conjectured  that  the  figure 
of  a  fish  was  also  engraved,  though  now  unhappily  oblit- 
erated, at  both  the  lower  corners,  where  spaces  for  it 
seem  to  have  been  left. 

IXGYOC  ovpaviov  uyiov  yevoc,  ^ropi  aeftvift 
Xp^oe,  Xa^dv  Cw^v  uuftpoTov  kv  Pporeoi^ 
Oeairealuv  vduruv    ripf  a^v,  0tXf,  OuXneo  "^Intxijv 
"Tdaaiv  uevuoiQ  rr^ovTodoTov  ^o^itjg, 
SwT^/iwf  &  uyiuv  fisAiridea  hifi(3ave  ^pCtaiv. 
'Eafft?  tteivnuv  IXGTN  lx*^v  nahifiaig. 
IX6Y1  ;tetpof  ufynpa-    XiXaieu  dianora  YtOtrep 
EvOv  ftot  t/yvf^Pi  oe  XiTu^o/ie,  ^f  to  OavovTuv. 
^Aoxavdte  nurep,  t^  'fuo  Kexoptofieve  OvfMlt, 
2vv  fiT/Tfu  y?.vKep^  koI  irdoiv  Toiaiv  hftoiaiv 
1X9TN  i6uv  vlov  jivqaeo  TicKTopiov. 

"  Offspring  of  the  heavenly  Ichthus,  [Christ,]  see  that  a  heart  of  holy 
reverence  be  thine,  now  that  from  divine  waters  thou  hast  received, 
while  yet  among  mortals,'  a  spring  of  life  that  is  to  immortality. 
Quicken  thy  soul,  beloved  one,  to  ever  fuller  life,  with  the  unfailing 
waters  of  wealth-giving  wisdom,  and  receive  the  honey-sweet  food  of 
the  Saviour  of  the  saints.  Eat  w^th  longing  hunger,  holding  Ichthus 
[the  Divine  Food]  in  thy  hands.  On  Ichthus  [Christ]  my  hands  are 
clasped  ;  in  thy  love  draw  nigh  unto  me  and  be  my  guide,  my  Lord, 
and  Saviour ;  I  entreat  thee,  thou  Light  of  them  for  whom  the  hour  of 
death  is  past.  My  father,  Aschandeius,  dear  unto  my  heart,  and  thou, 
sweet  mother,  and  all  I  love  on  earth,  oft  as  you  look  on  Ichthus 
[the  holy  sign  of  Christ]  so  often  think  of  me,  Pectorius,  your  son."  * 

*  The  epitaph  of  Abercius,  a  Phrygian  bishop  of  the  second  century, 
also  cantains  an  allusion  to  the  heavenly  Ichthus,  and  probably  to  the 
eucharist,  in  the  lines  which  we  quote : 

.  .  .  TiLaTiq  Sk  irpoaffye 
Kcu  napiOfiKe  trpo^priVj  'I:f0vv  delaf  unb  iTijy^c, 
Happeyedrjj  Kadarbv,  bv  iipt'i^aTo  irapOevog  uyvy' 
Kal  TovTov  ktreduKe  <ltiX(iiQ  ladeiv  rUa  Travrof, 
Olvov  xpf}orbv  f;j;ot;(T«,  Kipaafia  diiovaa  fief'  aprov. 

"  Faith  brought  to  us  and  set  before  us  food,  a  fish  from  a  divine  fount, 


Their  Symbolism. 


259 


In  this  beautiful  expression  of  primitive  faith  and 
hope  Romish  interpretation  has  discovered  evidence 
of  prayers  for  the  dead,  of  the  invocation  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  and  communion 
in  one  kind,  and  mention  of  the  "  sacred  heart  of  Jesus." 
Marriott  has  well  shown  the  grammatical  and  other  dif- 
ficulties which  these  forced  interpretations  create,  and 
the  absurdity  of  importing  into  antiquity  "  controversial 
phrases  of  comparatively  modern  theology,  utterly  un- 
known to  the  early  church." 

Sometimes,  by  a  confusion  of  metaphor  common  to 
both  pictorial  and  literary  figurative  expression,  the  sym- 
bol of  the  fish  is  applied  to  men  as  well  as  to  Our  Lord. 
Indeed,  this  may  have  been  its  primary  application,  and 
has  the  sanction  of  the  scriptural  designation  of  the 
apostles  as  "  fishers  of  men."  The  Greek  liturgy  adopts 
the  same  figure,  and,  in  pursuance  of  the  metaphor, 
speaks  of  the  rod  of  the  cross,  the  hook  of  preaching, 
and  the  bait  of  charity.*  There  are  also  frequent 
representations  on  the  sarcophagi  and  in  the  frescoes  of 
the  Catacombs,  doubtless  in  allusion  to  this  function  of 
the  Christian  ministry,  of  men  drawing  fish  out  of  the 
water.  These,  however,  must  not  be  confounded  with 
the  occasional  fishing  scenes  copied  from  pagan  art ;  and 
the  symbolical  fish  must  be  carefully  discriminated  from 
the  dolphins  which  frequently  occur  on  the  sarcophagi, 
and  from  the  "  great  fish  "  which  swallowed  Jonah.     It  is 

great  and  clean,  which  the  holy  maiden  took  in  her  hand  and  gave  it 
to  her  friends,  that  they  should  always  eat  thereof,  holding  goodly 
wine,  giving  with  bread  a  mingled  drink." 

The  "holy  maiden"  is  evidently,  from  the  context,  as  Marriott  re- 
marks. Faith  personified,  although  Padre  Garrucci  and  Dr.  Northcote 
regard  her  as  no  other  than  the  Virgin  Mary. 

♦  We  have  seen  how  TertuUian  designates  believers  as  little  fishes 
—puciculi. 


26o 


Tlie  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\\ 


remarkable  that  a  bronze  image  with  a  chalice  and  fish 
was  found  at  Autun,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  in- 
scription above  given.  The  figure  occurs  also  on  cer- 
tain ancient  coins,  and  in  representations  of  the  Phoe- 
nician Dagon  or  fish-god. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  there  are  in  the  Catacombs  com- 
paratively few  representations  of  the  cross,  that  sacred 
sign  of  salvation  which  in  after  years  became  per- 
verted to  such  superstitious  uses;  and  when  it  does 
occur  it  is  generally  in  some  disguised  form,  and  not  in 
that  by  which  it  is  now  generally  indicated,  familiarly 
known  as  the  Latin  cross.  There  is  probably  a  twofold 
reason  for  this.  The  very  sanctity  of  the  symbol, 
and  the  detestation  in  which  it  was  held  by  the  heathen, 
conspired  to  prevent  the  early  Christians  from  exposing 
it  to  their  profane  gaze.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  con- 
ceive the  abhorrence  in  which  the  cross  was  held  in  the 
early  centuries  by  the  Greek  and  Roman  mind.  It  has 
for  ages  been  hallowed  by  the  most  sacred  and  vener- 
able associations,  and  invested  with  the  most  sublime 
and  solemn  interest  as  the  emblem  of  the  world's  re- 
demption. It  has  waved  on  consecrated  bankers,  and 
been  quartered  on  the  arms  of  earth's  proudest  mon- 
archs.  It  has  shone  on  cathedral  spire  and  dome,  and, 
emblazoned  with  gold  and  costly  gems,  has  gleamed  on 
many  a  sacred  shrine.  It  has  been  marked  on  the  in- 
fant brow  in  baptism,  and  held  before  the  filming  eyes 
of  the  dying ;  and  has  been  associated  with  the  deepest 
emotions  and  holiest  hopes  of  the  soul. 

Not  so  in  the  earliest  ages  of  the  church.  It  was  then 
the  badge  of  infamy  and  sign  of  shame — the  punishment 
of  the  basest  of  slaves  and  the  vilest  of  malefactors.  It 
was  regarded  with  a  loathing  and  abhorrence  more  in- 
tense   than    that    in  which   the  felon's  gibbet   is  held 


Their  Symbolism,. 


261 


to-day.  Its  very  name  was  an  abomination  to  Roman 
ears,*  and  it  was  denounced  by  the  prince  of  Roman 
orators  as  a  most  foul  and  brutal  punishment,  an  infa- 
mous and  unhappy  tree.f  Hence  this  Christian  em- 
blem became  the  object  of  scoffing  and  derision  by  the 
persecuting  heathen.  An  illustration  of  this  is  seen  in 
the  blasphemous  caricature  of  the  Crucifixion,  found 
upon  the  walls  of  the  palace  of  the  Caesars  and  attrib- 
uted to  the  time  of  Septimius  Severus.J  It  represents  a 
figure  with  an  ass's  head  attached  to  a  cross,  which 
another  figure,  standing  near,  salutes  by  kissing  the  hand, 
or  adores  in  the  classical  sense  of  the  word.  Beneath 
is  a  rude  scrawl  which  has  been  interpreted  thus  :  'AAc^- 
opLEvo^ ae(iETe  (sic)  Qedv — "  Alexomenos  worships  his  god," 
probably  the  sneer  of  some  Roman  legionary  at  a  Chris- 
tian soldier  of  Caesar's  household.  Lucian  also  contempt- 
uously speaks  of  Our  Lord  as  a  "  crucified  impostor."  § 
The  Christians,  therefore,  reverently  veiled  this  sacred 
sign  from  the  multitude ;  but  they  cherished  it  in  their 
hearts,  and  in  times  of  persecution  gladly  bore  its  re- 
proach.   The   early  Fathers,  both  Greek  and  Latin, 


*  Nom«n  ipsum  crucis  absit  non  modo  a  corpore  civium  Romano- 
rum,  sed  etiam  a  cogitatione,  oculis,  auribus. — Cicero,  pro  Rabirio. 

f  Crudelissimum  et  teterrimum  .  .  .  arbor  infelix,  infame  lignum. 
— Cic,  pro  Rabirio. 

\  Now  in  the  Museum  of  the  Collegio  Romano. 

§  Tov  uveaKo?i,07naiievov  sKelvov  aoijuar^v. — De  Morte  Peregr, 

TertuUian  mentions  as  a  common  heathen  delusion  the  idea  that 
the  God  of  the  Christians  had  an  ass's  head.  He  also  speaks  of  a 
heathen  picture  of  a  figure  having  the  ears  of  an  ass,  hoofed  in  one 
foot,  carrj'ing  a  book  and  wearing  a  toga,  to  which  was  affixed  the  in- 
scription, "  The  God  of  the  Christians,  born  of  an  ass." — Apol.,  c.  16. 

Probably  such  caricatures  were  common.  On  a  slab  recently  dis- 
covered in  the  Vigna  Nussiner  is  a  representation  of  an  ass  with  the 
inscription,  "  Hie  est  Deus  Hadriani,"  apparently  a  satirical  allusion  to 
that  emperor's  favourable  disposition  to  Christianity. 


262 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


i 


recognize  the  occurrence  of  this  symbol  everywhere 
throughout  the  universe,  and  expatiate  with  fervent  elo- 
quence on  its  mystical  meaning.  The  points  of  the 
compass,  says  Jerome,  and  the  fourfold  dimensions  of 
space  as  mentioned  by  the  apostle,*  set  it  forth.  Its 
form  was  assumed  by  birds  in  their  flight,  by  men  in  the 
act  of  swimming  and  in  the  attitude  of  prayer,  and  is 
setA  in  the  masts  and  yards  of  vessels.f  "  The  cross," 
uiy^  Justin  Martyr,t  "is  impressed  on  all  nature;  there 
ii  sc,"'-'  ely  a  craftsman  but  employs  the  figure  of  it 
among  the  implements  of  his  industry."  It  was  seen  in 
the  beam  and  share  of  the  plough,  and  in  the  forms  of 
flowers  and  leaves.  It  was  typified  in  countless  analo- 
gies of  Scripture,  in  the  measurement  of  the  ark,  the 
number  of  Abraham's  servants,  the  shape  of  Jacob's  staff", 
and  the  roasting  of  the  paschal  lamb ;  in  the  rod  of  Moses, 
the  seven-branched  candlestick,  and  the  wave-offerings 
of  the  temple  service;  and  it  was  the  hallowed  sign 
marked  in  blood  on  the  lintels  of  the  Hebrews'  houses. 
It  healed  the  envenomed  wounds  of  the  serpent-bitten 
Israelites  in  the  desert,  routed  the  Amalekites  in  battle, 
and  restored  to  life  the  son  of  the  widow  who  gave 
bread  to  the  prophet.  It  was  the  mark  of  God  on  the 
saints  of  Jerusalem,  and  was  to  be  the  sign  of  the  Son 
of  man  in  the  heavens.  The  Christians  wore  the  sacred 
token  like  a  banner  on  their  foreheads,  §  and  the  form 
at  which  men   once  shuddered,  says  Chrysostom,  be- 

*  Eph.  Hi,  i8. 

\  Ipsa  species  crucis  quid  est  nisi  forma  quadrata  mundi  ?  .  .  .  Aves 
quando  volant  in  aethera,  formam  cracis  assumunt ;  homo  natans  per 
aquas,  vel  orans,  forma  crucis  vehitur.  Navis  per  maria  antenna  cruci 
similata  sufflatur. — Hieronym.  in  Mark  xv. 

\  Apol.,  i,  72.    See  also  Minuc.  Felix,  cap.  29. 

§  Ego  Christianus  .  .  .  et  vexillum  crucis  in  mea  fronte  portans.— 
Ilieron.,  Ep.  113. 


Their  Symbolism. 


263 


came  the  badge  of  highest  honour,  so  that  even  emperors 
laid  aside  the  diadem  to  assume  the  cross.  "  Let  him 
bear  the  cross,"  says  Paulinus,  "  who  uld  wear  the 
crown."*  Christians  were  known  as  "devotees  of  the 
cross, "t  and  this  sign  of  Christ  J  was  employed  to  hal- 
low every  act  of  their  lives,  their  down-sitting  and  up- 
rising, their  going  out  and  coming  in.§  It  was  especially 
adopted,  as  several  of  the  Fathers  remark,  ||  as  the  atti- 
tude of  prayer,  and  Chrysostom  quotes  in  explanation 
the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "  Let  the  lifting  up  of  my 
hands  be  as  the  c  ning  sacrifice."  If  Tertuilian  and 
Asterius  Amasenus**  vpressly  declare  that  thus  is  set 
forth  the  passion  01  Our  Lord. 

This  symbol  acqu!*"ed  at  length  in  popular  apprehension 
the  power  of  a  sicred  talisman  to  banish  demons,  van- 

♦  Tolle  crucem  qui  vis  auferre  coronam. 

f  Crucis  religiosi. — Tertul.,  Apol.,  16. 

\  Signum  Christi,  rh  KvpuiKov  arifielov. — Clem.  Alex.,  S from.,  vi,  11. 

§  Ad  umnem  progressum  atque  prornotum,  ad  omnem  aditum  et 
exitum,  ad  vestitum,  ad  calceatum,  ad  lavacra,  ad  mensas.  ad  lumU 
na,  ad  cubilia,  ad  sedilia,  qusecunque  nos  conversatio  exercet,  frontem 
crucis  signaculo  tenemus. — Tertul.,  de  Coron.  Mil.,  c.  iii. 

I  Crucis  signum  est,  cum  homo  porrectis  manibus  Deum  pura 
mente  veneratur. — Minuc,  Dial.,  p.  90.  Expansis  manibus  in  mo- 
dum  crucis  orabat. — Paulin.,  Vit.  Ambros.,^.  12.  Hie  habitus  oran< 
tium  est,  ut  manibus  in  ccelum  extensis  precemur. — Apuleius. — Accord- 
ing  to  Eusebius,  Constantine  was  thus  represented  on  the  coins  of  the 
empire. — 'Qg  uvu  fiXiireiv  doKtiv  uvaTerafikvog  irpog  Qebv,  rpoirov  evxo~ 
ui-vov. —  P'it.  Const.,  1.  iv,  c.  15. 

^  Chrys.  in  Psa.  cxli,  2.  Compare  Paul's  expression  about  "  lift- 
ing up  holy  hands  "  in  prayer. — i  Tim.  ii,  8. 

**  Nos  vero  non  attoleimus  tantum,  sed  etiam  expandimus,  et  Do- 
minica passione  modulantes,  et  orantes  Christo  confitemur. — Tertul.,  de 
Orat.,  c.  H.  To  tov  aravpov  ttuOoc  hv  r^  axhlidTi  k^eiKovi^ei. — Aster., 
op.  Phot.,  cod.  271.  This  attitude  of  prayer  was  also  common  to  the 
pagans  in  their  addresses  to  the  Dii  Superi,  or  celestial  gods.  Hence 
Virgil  represents  /Eneas  as  praying  with  his  hands  stretched  out  to 
heaven — Duplices  tendens  ad  sidera  palmas. 


264 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


rjuish  Satan,  avert  evil,  protect  in  time  of  danger  or  temp- 
tation, and  to  shut  the  mouths  of  lions  about  to  devoui 
the  intrepid  confessors  of  the  faith.*  The  sign  of  the 
cross  on  the  forehead  and  heart,  says  Prudentius,  ban- 
ishes all  evil,  t  Another  poet  of  the  fifth  century  recom- 
mends the  mystical  charm  as  arv  antidote  to  diseases  of 
cattle.  Into  such  superstition  had  Christianity  already 
degenerated. J 

More  common  than  any  other  Christian  symbol  in  the 
Catacombs  is  the  so-called  Constantinian  monogram,^  . 

♦  See  an  instance  of  this  miracle  recorded  in  Eusebius. — Hist.  Eccies., 

viii,  7. 

f  Fac  cum  vocante  somno 

Castum  petes  cubile, 

Frontem  locumque  cordis, 

Crucis  iigura  signet. 
Crux  pellit  omne  noxium. — Hymn  vi. 
\  Endelechius,  De  mortibus  Bovium.  In  later  times  the  sign  of  the 
cross  was  used  in  both  Greek  and  Latin  benedictions,  which  were  given 
with  many  puerile  distinctions,  and  with  much  supposed  spiritual  ben- 
efit.— See  Didron,  Iconog.  Chret.,  pp.  406-410.  The  cross  has  also 
given  the  name  to  many  famous  churches,  which  were  frequently  cru- 
ciform in  shape.  In  France  are  over  a  score  of  cathedrals  or  abbeys 
named  Sainte  Croix,  and  in  Italy  many  named  Santa  Croce.  In 
Great  Britain  we  have  Saint  Cross  at  Winchester,  and  Holyrood  in 
Edinburgh.  The  cross  was  also  used  to  mark  boundaries,  parishes, 
cross  roads ;  hence  the  phrase,  "  to  beg  like  a  cripple  at  a  cross."  Of 
three  hundred  and  sixty  wayside  crosses  once  existing  in  lona  only 
one  remains.  This  sign  was  used  to  mark  the  beginning  and  end  of 
books,  and  as  a  mark  of  punctuation.  It  gave  validity  to  legal  doc- 
uments, and  still  accompanies  tht  sign  manual  of  ecclesiastical 
dignitaries. 

Crucifixion  was  abolished  by  Constantine  out  of  reverence  for  the 
manner  of  Our  Lord's  death. 

The  cross  would  scarcely  have  been  publicly  employed  while  this 
shameful  mode  of  punishment  was  practiced.  The  earlier  examples 
had  probably  a  baptismal  signification  as  a  sign  of  the  faith.  Of  this 
character  seem  to  have  been  those  ejected  or  inlaid  by  Constantine 
in  his  baptisteries  and  elsewhere.  Only  by  slow  degrees  did  it  be- 
come the  symbol  of  the  sufTerings  of  Christ. 


Their  Symbolism. 


265 


The  first  certain  example  of  this  is  the  following,  which 
bears  the  date  A.  D.  331  :* 


ASELLVS  ET  LEA   PRISCO  PATRI   BENEMERENTl  IN  PACE 
QVI  BIXIT  ANSIS  LXIIII  MENSIBVS  III  DIES  N  XII. 


N  SIGNO 


% 


Asellus  and  Lea  to  Priscus,  their  well-deserving  father,  in  peace,  who 
lived  sixty-four  years,  three  months,  twelve  days.    In  the  sign  of  Christ. 

Fiff.  56.— Earliest  dated  Ck>n8tantinJan  Monogrram. 

A  somewhat  similar  form  occurs  with  the  date  A.  D. 
291,  but  De  Rossi  thinks  it  is  only  an  ornamental  point. f 
The  following  fragment  may  possibly  belong  to  the  year 
298,  when  one  of  the  consuls  was  named  Gallus ;  but  it 
cannot  be  proved  that  he  is  the  one  mentioned  in  the 
inscription;  [viJxit  .  .  .  J51  •  •  •  ^^^  •  conss.  —  "  He 
lived  in  Christ  .  .  .  and  Gallus  being  consuls."  J 

In  the  year  339  the  second  dated  example  occurs,  en- 
closed in  a  circle.  In  A.  D.  341  three  examples  are 
found,  and  in  A.  D.  343  it  occurs  four  times  in  one 
in.scription.     After  this  it  becomes  exceedingly  com- 

*  De  Rossi,  Inscript.  Christ.^  No.  39. 

\  Ibid.,  No.  17. 

\  Ibid.,  No.  26.  With  true  archaeological  enthusiasm,  De  Rossi  ex- 
claims, '*  Scarcely  any  monument  in  this  whole  class  is  worthy  of  such 
observation  as  this  sepulchral  fragment.  For  if  indeed  this  name  is  that 
of  Gallus,  the  colleague  of  Faustus,  behold,  what  I  have  ever  intensely 
desired,  I  have  at  length  with  joy  obtained — to  see  with  my  own  eyes 
a  certain  dated  monument  which  exhibits  the  celebrated  monogram  ■>&• 
before  the  year  312.  Would  that  I  could  find  the  part  of  the  in- 
scription that  is  lost,"  he  adds,  "  which,  if  it  bore  the  name  of  Faus- 
tus, I  would  esteem  more  precious  than  gold  and  gems  " — auro  contra 
et  gemmis  cariorem  aestimarem."  But  he  was  not  permitted  to  be 
so  happy,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  Gallus  ref  rred  to  is  another  of 
much  later  date. 


256 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


mon,  and  is  even  employed  as  a  mark  of  punctuation 
between  the  words. 

This  monogram  is  formed,  as  will  be  perceived,  by  the 
combination  of  the  (Ireek  characters  X  and  P,  the  first 
two  letters  of  the  word  XPI2T01,  or  Christ.  It  may, 
indeed,  be  regarded  rather  as  a  contracted  form  of 
writing  that  word  than  as  a  proper  symbol,  just  as  we 
sometimes  write  Xt.  and  Xmas.  for  Christ  and  Christ- 
mas. Indeed,  it  most  probably  originated  in  the  prev- 
alent practice  of  contracted  and  monogrammat:  writ- 
ing, of  which  we  have  so  many  examples  in  these  in- 
scriptions. That  the  monogram  stands  for  the  name  of 
Our  Lord  will  be  apparent  from  an  examination  of  a 
few  of  the  inscriptions  in  which  it  occurs,  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  very  first  dated  example,  above  given.  See 
also  the  following  :  in  pace  et  in  ]^  deo — "  In  peace 
and  in  Christ  God;  "  bibas  in  ^ — "May  you  live  in 
Christ;"  IN  ^  victrix,  which  probably  meant  "  Victrix 
(a  woman's  name)  victorious  in  Christ."  Marangoni 
gives  the  accompanying  impression  of  a  seal  on  the 
plaster  of  a  grave.    See  figure  56. 

This  monogram  soon  became  almost 

>       universal  in   the  Catacombs,  on  sepul- 

^  chral   slabs,  lamps,  vases,  rings,    seals, 

weights,  gems,  etc.,  and  in  every  con- 

iLt    ^      ceivable  modification  of  form,  some  of 

„  „  IT.    .  which  are  shown  in  the  illustration  on 

*•  Hope  in    Him, 

I.  e.,  in  Christ.  ^^^  P^ge.  See  also  the  vignette  on  title 
Fiff.  5e.-Chrl«-  P^g^*  copied  from  an  alabaster  slab  in 
tian  Seal.  the  Collegio  Romano,  originally  from 
the  Catacombs. 

Frequently  the  Greek  letters  Alpha  and  Omega  ac- 
company the  monogram,  as  in  numbers  i,  4,  and  6  of 
Fig.  57,  in  allusion  to  the  sublime  passage  in  the  Reve- 


Their  Symbolism. 


267 


Plflr.  67.— Various  Forms  of  the  Ck>natantlnlan  Monogrrani. 

lation   descriptive    of  the  eternity  of  Christ.*     Some- 
tiitles  the   order  of  the    letters   is   reversed,    probably 
through  the  ignorance  of  the  artist,  as  in  the  accompany- 
ing rude  example,  Fig.  58. 
The  whole  was  sometimes 
placed  obliquely,  or   even         /  7       r      i' 
turned  upside  down,  doubt-       /  V..>\^/ 
less    for    the     same    rea- 
son.    Even  in  its  simplest 
form  it  was  considered  suf 
ficient  to  give  a  Christian 

character   to  a  tombstone  Fiar.  58.— "  Taaaris  in  Cbrist.  the 
which  had  been  originally  First  and  the  Last." 


♦  Rev.  i,  8.     Prudentius  5n  his  ninth  hymn  paraphrases  the  same 

thought : 

Alpha  et  Q  cognominatus  ;  ipse  fens  et  clausula 
Omnium  quae  sunt,  fuerunt,  quaeq      post  futura  sunt. 

In  Mediaeval  art  the  letters  it  (jvare  oft       nscribed  on  the  cruciform 

nimbus  indicating  Our  Lord,  in  allusion  lo  the  scripture,  ^yw  t\\u  6  Crv 

— "  I  am  that  I  am." 


268 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


pagan.  Such  inscriptions  are  called  opisthographce^  that 
is,  afterwritten.  In  the  following  example  from  Aringhi 
the  letters  D,  M.,  for  the  heathen  formula  dis  manibvs, 
— "  To  the  Divine  Manes,"  are  partially  obliterated,  and 
the  consecrating  sign  substituted  instead. 

HERCULIO.  INNOCENT! 


FN 


.AN  in         vni 


JENUARIA  ALUNINO  MERE. 
IN  PACE 


Fig-  59.— Opiethogrraphic  Inscription. 

This  monogram  has  been  supposed  to  have  been 
adopted  from  the  celebrated  Labjjirum,  or  battle-stand- 
ard of  Constantine,  which  bore  this  sacred  figure.  This 
was  derived  in  turn,  it  was  feigned,  from  the  image 
which  the  imperial  convert  saw,  or  thought  he  saw, 
traced  in  the  sky  in  characters  of  fire  brighter  than  the 
noon-day  sun,  before  the  battle  of  the  Milvian  Bridge. 
Probably  a  solar  halo  of  unusual  splendour  was  magnified 
by  the  eager  imagination  of  Constantine  into  a  token  of 
divine  assistance,  and  the  legend  'Ev  roifru)  vlku  wsls  an 
after  addition  of  the  credulous  historian.  The  Christian 
emblem,  according  to  Prudentius,*  was  worn  upon  the 
shields  and  helmets  of  the  whole  army  as  well  as  on  the 
imperial  standard ;  "  and  so,"  says  Milman,  "  for  the 
first  time  the  meek  and  peivceful  Jesus  became  a  God 

*  Christus  purpureum  gemmanti  textus  in  auro, 
Signabat  labarum,  clypeonim  insignia  Christus 
Scripserat :  ardebat  summis  crux  addita  cristis. 

— /n  Symniachttm,  vv.  487-489. 


Their  Symbolhm. 


269 


of  battle ;  and  the  cross,  the  holy  sign  of  Christian  re- 
demption, a  banner  of  bloody  strife."  * 

Probably  there   is  allusion  to  the  above   mentioned 
legend  in  the  following  inscription  from  Bosio : 

IN    HOC    VINCES 


X 


SINFONIA    ET    FILIIS. 
In  this  thou  shalt  conquer.     In  Christ.     Sinfonia,  also  for  her  sons. 

On  a  remarkable  sarcophagus  in  the  Lateran  Museum 
is  a  representation  of  the  monogram  f  supported  on  a 
cross  and  surrounded  by  a  wreath,  at  which  doves  are 
pecking  ;  probably  a  symbol  of  the  souls  of  the  blessed 
feeding  on  the  hope  of  an  immortal  crown  and  the 
sweetness  of  eternal  bliss.  Beneath  are  crouched  two 
soldiers,  types,  it  is  thought,  of  the  Christian  warriors  not 
yet  entered  into  rest,  whose  only  place  of  safety  is  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross ;  or  they  may  refer  to  the  Draconii, 
or  imperial  guard  of  the  Labarum,  who,  according  to 
Eusebius,  passed  unhurt  amid  showers  of  javelins. 

The  following  enlarged  copy  of  an  early  Christian  seal 
exhibits  the  triumph  of  the  cross  over  the  Old  Serpent, 
the  Devil,  while  it  is  the  symbol  of  salvation  to  the 
saints  represented  by  the  doves  at  its  foot.     In    later 

*  Hist,  of  Christianity,  bk,  iii,  chap.  i.  From  the  time  of  Constan- 
tine  the  monogram  became  common  on  the  coins  of  the  Empire. 
Valentinian  III.  and  his  wife  Eudoxia  first  wore  it  on  the  im- 
perial crown.  In  later  Greek  art  the  cross  is  generally  accompanied 
by  the  letters  IC-XC  NIKA,  that  is,  **  Jesus  Christ  is  conqueror." 
Eusebius  describes  a  statue  of  Constantine  at  Rome  bearing  this 
monogram.    {Hist.  Eccles.,  ix,  9.) 

f  See  Fig.  104,  chap.  iv.  Paulinus  refers  to  the  bitter  cross  sur- 
rounded by  a  flowery  crown  : 

Ardua  floriferje  Crux  cingitur  orbe  coron?e. 

— Epis.  xii,  ad  Severum, 


' 


n 


f 


I 


: 


270 


7Vu'  Catacombs  of  Route. 


art  the  figures  of  lions,  eagles,  falcons,  peacocks,  doves, 
and  lambs,  grouped  around  the  cross,  seem  to  signify 

its  power  to  subdue  evil  pas- 
sions and  to  inspire  holy  virtues. 
The  change  of  the  monogram 
into  the  cross  was  very  gradual. 
First  one  stroke  of  the  X  be- 
came coincident  with  the  verti- 
cal part  of  the  P,  and  the  other 
at  right  angles  to  it,  as  in  No.  6, 
Fig.  57.  At  length  the  loop  of  the 
P  disappears  and  the  Greek  cross 

Fig.  60.-Early   Christian  results.     In  the  other  examples 

Seal 

of  Fig.  57  the  cross,  if  cross  it 

was  at  all,  was  neither  in  the  Greek  nor  Latin  form, 
but  in  that  known  as  St.  Andrew's.  Finally  the  lower 
arm  was  lengthened  till  it  assumes  the  form  shown 
in  the   accompanying  engraving,   which   was  found  on 

the  grave  of  a  neophyte  four 
years  old.  The  first  dated  ex- 
ample of  a  simple  undisguised 
cross  in  the  (Catacombs  does  not 
occur  till  A^.  D.  407  ;  *  but  dur- 
ing the  latter  part  of  the  fifth 
century  it  became  quite  com- 
mon. Il  also'  became  more  or- 
nate in  form,  and  was  frequently 
adorned  with  gems  and  wreathed 
with   flowers,  especially   in   the 

Fig.  61.-Monogram,      1^^^^'  ^as  reliefs.     In  the  fourth 
united  with  the  Cross,    century  it  had  already  become 

*  l)e  Rossi,  Inscrip.  Christ.,   No.  576,     Of  course  there  may  be 
earlier  examples  which  are  undated. 


iiasag 


Their  Symbolism. 


271 


an  object  of  such  saperstitions  veneration  as  to  call 
forth  the  reproaches  of  Julian  and  the  extravagant 
laudation  of  many  of  the  Christian  fathers.*  In  the  time 
of  Chrysostom  the  alleged  discovery  of  the  true  cross 
by  the  Empress  Helena  was  universally  received,  and 
"  materialized  at  once,"  says  Milman,  "  the  spiritual 
worship  of  Christianity."  f  Its  position  was  revealed  in 
a  vision  and  its  genuineness  proved  by  the  miraculous 
cures  which  it  performed,  as  recorded  by  St.  Cyril, 
afterward  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  a  reputed  eye-witness  of 
the  event.  The  precious  re  ic,  distributed  throughout 
Christendom  J  and  in  minute  portions  worn  as  sacred 
talismans,  did  much  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of  superstition 
which  culminated  in  the  Romish  festivals  of  the  In- 
vention i.nd  Exaltation  of  the  Cross,  and  in  the  hymns 
and  offices  of  the  church,  often  bordering,  at  least,  upon 
idolatrous  homage.  §     It  also  led  to  the  conception  of 

*  In  later  art  ingenuity  was  exhausted  in  multiplying  varieties  of 
the  form  of  the  cross.  Besides  the  ordinary  Greek  and  Latin  types, 
there  was  the  Resurrection  cross,  a  reed-like  shaft  with  a  small  cross- 
let,  generally  bearing  a  banneret  ;  the  Calvary  cross,  with  steps  at  its 
foot  ;  the  crux  gammata,  or  fourfold  repetition  of  the  Greek  letter 
r,  the  crux  gemmata,  stellata,  Jlorida,  etc.  There  were  also  innu- 
merable minor  varieties  for  which  distinguishing  names  are  provided 
in  the  jargon  of  heraldry. 

\  Hist.  Christianity,  iii,  3.    Eusebius  is  silent  concerning  this  event. 

\  Helena  calmed  the  Adriatic  with  one  of  the  nails  ;  of  another  Con- 
stantine  made  a  bit  for  his  horse  ;  a  portion  is  annually  exhibited  at 
Rome  bearing  the  threefold  title  of  Our  Lord  in  Hebrew,  Greek, 
and  Latin,  the  first  undecipherable, 

§  Witness  the  following  from  the  Vexilla  Regis,  addressed  to  the 
material  cross  :  "  Hail,  O  cross,  our  only  hope  !  give  grace  to  the  pious, 
blot  out  the  sins  of  the  wicked  " — 

O  crux,  ave,  spes  unica  ! 
Piis  adauge  gratiam  ; 
Reisque  deie  crimina. 

Compare  also  the  following,  from  the  Office  of  the  Invention  of  the 
Cross :  "O  cross,  more  splendid  than  all  the  stars,  .  .  .  which  alone 


'^,- 


I:  f^ 


1 


f 


'I'i  t 


272 


T/ie  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


the  marvelous  legend  of  the  croi^s  in  the  apocryphal 
gospels  and  ancient  traditions.* 

wast  worthy  to  bear  the  ransom  of  the  world  !  sweet  wood,  sacred 
nails,  bearing  so  precious  a  burden,  sa^'o  this  people  assembled  to- 
day to  sing  thy  praises." — O  Crux,  splendidior  cunctis  astris,  .  .  . 
quae  sola  fuisti  digna  portare  talentum  mundi !  ''.ulce  lignum,  dulces 
clavos,  dulcia  ferens  pondera,  salva  praesentem  catervam  in  tuis 
hodie  laudibus  congregatam. 

This  sacred  theme  has  also  been  the  subject  of  some  of  the 
noblest  lyrics  of  the  church,  none  of  which,  however,  surpass  the  im- 
passioned devotion  of  the  following  lines  of  Savonarola,  the  Luther 
of  Italy,  whose  reform,  alas  !  was  quenched  in  his  own  blood. 

O  croce,  fammi  loco  ! 
E  le  mie  membre  prendi ! 
Che  del  tuo  dolce  foco 
II  cor  e  I'alma  accendt  • 
La  croce  e'l  crocifisso, 
Sia  nel  mio  cor  scolpito, 
Ed  io  sia  sempre  affisso 
In  gloria  ov'  egli  e  ito  ! 

Cross  of  my  Lord,  give  rvtorn  !  give  room  ! 

To  thee  my  flesh  be  given  . 
Cleansed  in  thy  fires  of  love  and  praise, 

^^y  soul,  rise  pure  to  heaven  ! 
Ah  !  vanish  each  unworthy  trace 

Of  earthly  care  or  pride  ; 
Leave  only  graven  on  my  heart 

The  Cross,  the  Crucified. 

*  According  to  this  legend  Adam  when  sick  sent  Seth  to  the  gate 
of  Eden  to  ask  for  the  healing  balm  of  the  tree  of  life,  but  the 
guarding  angel  replied  that  ages  m.ust  pass  before  that  boon  could 
be  conferred  on  man.  Seth  received,  however,  three  seeds,  which 
he  planted  by  his  father's  grave,  situated  on  the  site  of  Gol- 
gotha. From  these  sprang  the  rod  of  Aaron,  and  the  tree  which 
gave  its  mysterious  virtue  to  the  Pool  of  Bethesda,  and  rising  to  the 
surface  at  the  hour  of  the  passion,  became  the  instrument  of  the 
CI  icifixion  of  Our  Lord.  After  that  momeritous  event  it  was  thrown 
into  the  town  ditch  with  the  crosses  of  the  two  thieves,  and  covered 
with  rubbish  ;  but  at  the  intercession  of  Helena  the  earth  opened, 
divine  odrars  breathed   forth,  the  three  cro.sses  were  discovered,  and 


i  heir  Symholism. 


The  cross  thvis  gradually  assumed  the  forr'  I.,  which 
it  is  now  generally  represented ;  but  it  was  i  sif»u  jf 
joy  and  gladness,  crowned  with  flowers,  ar^  'ned  with 
precious  stones,  "  a  pledge  of  the  resurrection  gather  than 
a  memorial  of  the  passion."  *  It  was  like  the  rainbow  in 
the  cloud  to  Noah  after  the  flood — a  promise  of  mercy, 
not  a  symbol  of  wrath.  It  was  not  the  dead  Christ  but 
the  glorified  Redeemer  that  the  primitive  Church  pre- 
sented to  the  imagination.  She  lingered  not  by  the 
empty  sepulchre,  but  followed  by  faith  the  risen  Lord. 
The  persecuted  saints  shared  the  triumph  of  His  vic- 
tory over  death  and  the  grave,  and  felt  that  because  He 
lived  they  should  live  also. 

The  early  believers  carefully  avoided,  as  though 
prevented  by  a  sacred  interdict,  any  attempt  to  depict 
the  awful  scenes  of  Christ's  passion,  the  realistic  treat- 
ment of  which  in  Roman  Catholic  art  so  often  shocks 
the  sensibilities  and  harrows  the  soul.  This  solemn 
tragedy  tney  felt  to  be  the  theme  of  c'evout  a^^d  prayer- 
ful meditation  rather  than  of  portraitu/  in  at.  Hence 
we  find  no  pictures  of  the  agony  an  ^  »ioo(ly  sweat,  the 
mocking  and  the  shame,  the  death  r^nd  burial  of  Our 
Lord.  "The  Catacombs  of  Rome,'  s.3ys  Milman, 
"  faithful  to  their  general  character,  o!Ter  a  )  instance  of 
a  crucifixion,  nor  does  any  allusion  to  such  a  subject  of 
art  occur  in  any  early  writing."  f     "  The  passion  is  not 

that  of  Our  Lord  was  revealed  by  its  curing  an  inveterate  disease 
and  raising  a  dead  man  to  life.  See  also  Legenna  A  urea,  De  luven- 
tione  et  Exaltationt  Sancta:  Crucis. 

The  material  of  the  cross  is  described  in  the  following  distich : 
Pes  crucis  est  cednis,  corpus  tenet  alta  cupressus, 
Palma  manus  retinet  titulo  laetabor  oliva — 
"The   foot  is  cedar,  a  lofty  cypress  bears  the  body,  tuc  ai-ms  art- 
palm,  the  title  olive  bears." 

*Mihiian,  Hist.  Chrintianity,  bk.  iv,  c.  4. 

\  Nist.    Ckfistianily,  bk.  iv,  c.  4.     One  or  two  apparent   excep- 

l8 


^1 


lk  1 


%l 


I  't^-'l' 


i 


pi 

11 


i 


4 
I 


274 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


represented  literally,"  says  Dr.  Northcote,  a  strenuous 
advocate  of  Roman  Catholic  views,  "  but  under  the  veil 
of  secresy.  It  is  not  our  Beloved  Lord,  but  some  other 
who  bears  his  cross.  The  crown  which  is  placed  on 
his  head  is  of  flowers  rather  than  of  thorns,  and  corre- 
sponds better  with  the  mystical  language  of  the  Spouse 
in  the  Canticles*  than  would  a  literal  treatment."! 
With  this  agrees  the  assertion  of  the  distinguished  Prus- 
sian archaeologist,  Prof.  Piper,  of  Berlin.  Speaking  of 
the  series  of  art  representations,  belonging  to  the  first 
five  centuries,  of  scenes  in  the  life  of  Our  Lord, 
which  extend  from  his  nativity  to  his  appearance  be- 
fore Pilate,  he  says,  "  Further,  however,  this  series  does 
not  go :  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ  have  not 
at  ail  been  made  the  subject  of  representation  in  this 
period."  t 

In  the  fift'i  century  Paulinus  of  Nola  speaks  of 
Christ  as  represented  by  a  snowy  lamb  standing  at  the 
/oot  of  the  cross. §  Sometimes  a  lamb  bore  the  cross, 
at  others  it  was  couchant  in  the  midst  of  it;  and,  as  if 

tions,  as  in  the  semi-subterranean  chajjel  annexed  to  the  church  of 
St.  Sebastian,  by  their  internal  evidence — the  drooping  head,  severe 
expression,  and  degraded  art — indicate  their  late  origin,  Perret  thinks 
of  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century.  Bottari  figures  one  (Tav.  190) 
which  may  possibly  belong  to  the  seventh  or  eighth  century. 

♦Cant,  iii,  11. 

f  Northcote's  "  Catacombs''  p.  130. 

\  Weiter  aber  geht  diese  Reihe  nicht ;  Tod  und  Auferstehung 
Christi  sind  in  diesem  Bereich  gar  nicht  zur  Darstellung  gekommen. 
—  Ueber  den  Christlichen  Bilderkreis,  p.  7.  Berlin,  1852.  Bishop 
Murter,  indeed,  asserts  that,  although  it  i^  impossible  precisely  to  de- 
termine the  first  appearance  of  the  crucifix,  before  the  end  of  the 
seventh  century  the  church  knew  nothing  of  them — Es  ist  un- 
uxoglich  das  alter  der  crucifixe  genau  zu  bestimmen.  Vor  dem 
Ende  des  siebenten  Jahrhunderts  kannte  die  Kirche  sie  nicht.— 
Sinnbilder,  etc.,  p.  77. 

§  Sub  crucesanguinea  niveo  stat  Christus  in  agno. — Epis.  xxxii. 


Their  Symbolism. 


275 


to  bring  the  sacrificial  emblem  more  vividly  to  mind, 
the  lamb  was  represented  as  wounded  and  bleeding,  an 
innocent  victim  given  to  an  unjust  death.* 

In  A.  D.  692  the  Quinisextan  Council  decreed  that 
the  historic  figure  of  Christ  in  human  form  should  be 
substituted  for  paintings  of  the  lamb  f — an  evidence 
that  the  earlier  representations  were  purely  allegorical. 
The  lamb,  however,  still  continued  to  be  employed,  and 
it  required  the  reiterated  injunction  of  Pope  Adrian,  in 
the  eighth  century,  to  enforce  uniformity  of  usage  ;  and 
even  after  that  time  a  reversion  to  the  former  practice 
sometimes  occurred. 

The  oldest  extant  representation  of  the  crucifixion  is 
a  miniature  in  a  Syrian  evangelarium,  of  date  A.D.  586, 
now  in  the  Laurentian  Library  at  Florence.  The  treat- 
ment of  the  subject  is  exceedingly  rude,  bordering  on 
the  grotesque.  The  figure  of  Our  Lord  is  crowned 
with  a  nimbus  and  clothed  with  a  long  purple  robe. 
The  soldiers  on  the  ground  are  casting  lots  for  his  gar- 
ments, and  the  sun  and  moon  look  down  upon  the 
scene.  A  companion  picture  represents  the  ascension 
of  Christ  and  the  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
"  These  are  the  oldest  pictorial  representations,"  says 
Prof.  Piper,  "of  the  earthly  life  of  Jesus  and  of  his  ex- 
altation. ...  At  a  somewhat  later  period,"  he  continues, 
"  they  appear  also  in  tl^e  west."  J 

Gregory  of  Tours,  about  the  end  of  the  sixth   cen- 

*  Agnus  ut  innocua  injusto  datur  hostia  letho. — Paulin.,  Epis.  xxxii. 

f  Christi  Dei  Bostri  humana  forma  characterem  etiam  in  imaginibus 
deinceps  proveteri  agno  erigi  acdepingi  jubemus, — Concilium  Quini- 
Sextum,  Caaaon  82. 

X  Das  sind  die  iiltesten  Bilder  von  dem  Ende  des  irdischen  Lebens 
Jes'i  und  seiner  Erhohung.  .  .  .  Bald  darauf  kommen  sie  bin  und 
wieder  aucb  in  Abendlande  vor. —  Ueberden  Christlichen  Bilderkreis^ 
pp.  26,  27. 


,\i 


276 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


r> 


ht 


tury,  mentions,  apparently  as  an  unusual  innovation,  a 
picture  in  the  church  at  Narbonne  which  represented 
the  crucifixion  of  Our  Lord.*  About  the  same  time 
Venantius  Fortunatus  mentions  what  seems  to  haye 
been  a  metallic  cross  bearing  the  image  of  Christ. f       \, 

The  figure  of  Jesus  first  appeared  standing  at  the 
foot  of  the  cross,  frequently  with  outstretched  arms  as 
if  in  prayer,  which  type  was  common  in  the  eighth 
century.  Sometimes  the  bust  only  was  exhibited  at  the 
top  of  the  cross,  or  even  hovering  over  it.  as  in  a  re- 
liquary presented  to  Theodelinda  by  Gregory  the 
Great,  the  head  being  crowned  with  a  nimbus,  but 
without  any  expression  of  pain. 

In  the  ninth  century  the  form  of  Christ  is  raised  to 
the  centre  of  the  cross ;  but  he  is  still  alive,  with  open 
eyes  and  head  erect,  as  if  to  indicate  that  the  divine 
nature  was  not  subject  to  death.  The  hands  are  not 
nailed,  but  extended  in  prayer ;  the  darkened  sun  and 
and  moon  look  down  upon  the  awful  tragedy ;  but  still 
a  feeling  of  reverence  prevented  the  depicting  of  any 
expression  of  suffering  on  the  countenance  of  the  Re- 
deemer. It  was  not  till  the  eleventh  century  that  art 
attempted  to  represent  either  the  agony  or  death  of  the 
Son  of  God.J     From  this  time  he  is  exhibited  lifeless 

*  Est  et  apud  Narbonensem  urbem  pictura  quae  Dominum  nostrum 
quasi  praecinctum  linteo  indicat  crucifixum. — De  Glor.  Mar.^  i,  23. 
f  Crux  benedicta  nitet  Dominus  qua  carne  pependit. — Carrn.,  lib. 

ii,  3- 

X  The  earliest  example  of  a  dead  Christ  is  in  a  MS.  of  date  A.D. 
1059.  The  oldest  mural  picture  of  this  awful  theme,  now  so  com- 
mon throughout  Roman  Catholic  Christend  )m,  and  which  was  pre- 
scribed as  necessary  for  every  altar  by  Benedict  XIV,  1754,  is  the 
Church  of  Urban  at  Rome,  and  bears  the  date  A.  X.  R,  I.  MXI. — 
Anno  Christi  ion.  Few  of  those  in  the  Italian  churches  are  older 
than  the  fourteenth  century. 


Their  Symbolism. 


277 


upon  the  cross,  his  hands  and  feet  transpierced  with 
nails  and  a  spear  wound  in  his  side,  from  which  the 
flowing  blood  sometimes  falls  on  the  head  of  the  spec- 
tators, as  if  indicating  the  efficacy  of  the  atonement;  and 
in  the  thirteenth  century  the  head  drops  heavily  to  one 
side.* 

The  arrangement  of  the  drapery  differs  greatly  in 
these  paintings.  In  the  tenth  century  the  form  of  the 
divine  victim  is  entirely  clothed  with  a  long  robe  with 
sleeves  che  hands  and  feet  alone  being  uncovered.  In 
the  eieventb  and  twelfth  centuries  the  robe  becomes 
shorter  and  the  sleeves  disappear;  in  the  thirteenth 
it  is  reduced  to  a  short  tunic  ;  and  in  the  fourteenth  it  is 
little  more  than  a  narrow  girdle  about  the  loins,  at 
which  stage  it  has  since  remained.  The  suppedaneum^ 
or  support  for  the  feet,  is  generally  represented.  It  is 
frequently  in  the  iorm  of  a  globe,  or  of  a  chalice. 
The  support  for  the  body  is  never  shown  in  art.  Some- 
times the  sepulchre,  with  the  angel  and  the  two  Marys, 
is  seen  in  the  background.  One  example,  in  St.  John's 
Lateran,  exhibits  the  gate  of  paradise  and  the  tree  of 
life. 

The  expression  of  the  face  also  underwent  a  change 
— a  dire  eclipse  of  woe — no  less  painful  to  behold.  In 
the  earlier  pictures  of  the  crucifixion  the  countenance 
of  the  Redeemer  is  still  gentle  and  benign,  the  type  of 
tenderness  and  truth ;  but  it  gradually  becomes  more 
and  more  strongly  marked  with  the  expression  of  sor- 
row and  physical  anguish,  till  all  the  divine  fades  away, 
and  only  the  human  agony  of  the  wan  and  furrowed 
face  remains.     The  serene  and  joyous  aspect  which,  as 


li 
it 


♦The  inclination  of  the  apse  from  the  axial  line  in  some  churches 
is  said  to  represent  this  drooping  of  the  head. 


s;l 


278 


The  Catacombs  of  Koine. 


we  shall  see,  the  representations  of  Our  Lord  always 
wore  in  the  Catacombs,  vanishes,  and  he  is  depicted  as 
the  '*  man  of  sorrows,"  crushed  with  hopeless  grief, 
crowned  with  thorns,  transpierced  with  nails,  and  stained 
with  dropping  blood  from  the  ghastly  s;»ear-wound  in 
his  side.  Art  exhausted  its  power  in  df  lu)  ^ating  the 
intensest  forms  of  anguished  suffering,  sinking  lower  and 
lower  in  the  depths  of  a  brutal  materiality  and  ferocity 
of  treatment  of  this  sacred  theme.  Even  the  genius 
of  Michael  Angelo  only  renders  more  painful  the  con- 
trast between  the  tender  and  pitiful  Good  Shepherd  of 
the  Catacombs  and  the  relentless  Judge  of  the  Sistine 
Chapel,  menacing  the  guilty  with  the  thunderbolts  of 
wrath — a  pagan  Zeus  rather  than  the  Christian  God  of 
Mercy.  I'his  striking  change  but  too  faithfully  repre- 
sents the  corresponding  degradation  and  materialization 
of  religious  belief. 

The  crucified  Christ  was  not  only  depicted  in  his 
dying  agonies  on  earth,  but  this  human  anguish  is  even 
introduced  into  representations  of  heaven,  bringing 
gloom  upon  its  glory  and  sadness  amid  its  joy.  The 
Divine  Fathei-  is  frequently  portrayed  as  ,  tting  on  the 
throne  of  his  majesty,  and  holding  in  his  hand  a  cross 
on  which  hangs  tl  e  agonized  body  of  his  Son.* 

In  the  East  the  development  of  image  worship  seems  to 
have  been  earlier  than  in  the  West.f  During  the  eighth 
century  its  corruptions  provoked  the  iconoclastic  zeal 
of  the  Isaurian  Leo ;  and  a  general  council  condemned 
as  idolatrous  all  symbols  of  Christ  except  the  holy 
Eucharist.  J     Their  destruction  was  rigorously   prose- 


*  Didron,  Iconog.  Chret.,  pp.  226,  505. 

f  Die  also  dem  Morgenlande  entstammen,  says  Professor  Piper. — 
Ueber  den  Christ  lie  hen  Bilderkreis,  p.  27. 
X  The  Council  of  Constantinople,  A.  D,  754. 


Their  Symbolism, 


279 


cuted  in  the  F^astern  Empire;  but  Gregory  II.  became 
the  champion  of  image  worship  in  the  West,  and  Italy, 
adhering  to  her  ancient  pagan  instincts,  substituted  this 
new  idolatry  for  that  which  she  had  abandoned. 

The  development  of  the  graven  representation  of  the 
passion  was  more  gradual  than  its  treatment  in  graphic 
art.  Thi:;  was  the  work  of  the  sculptors.  At  first  the 
figure  of  Our  Lord  was  merely  painted  on  1  flat  surface 
of  wood  or  metal.  This  was  afterward  incised  in  out- 
line, and  exhibited  in  low  relief,  as  or  an  ivory  diptych 
of  date  A..  D.  888  in  the  Vatican  Muceum.  In  this  the  sun 
and  moon,  as  geni  hold  torches  above  the  cioss ;  and 
by  a  singular  association  of  ideas,  Romulus  and  Remus, 
suckled  by  the  wolf,  appear  at  its  foot,  probably  in  allu- 
sion to  Christ's  spiritual  subjugation  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire.* The  treatment  of  this  sacred  theme  passed 
gradually  through  the  stages  of  basso^  mezzo,  and  alto 
relievo,  becoming  more  and  more  detached,  till,  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  the  figure  of  Our  Lord  upon  the 
cross  sfood  out,  the  completed  and  portable  crucifix. f 
From  this,  through  rapid  stages,  we  arrive  at  the  gross 
and  ghastly  images  which  abound  throughout  Roman 
Catholic  Christendom;  in  every  church  and  at  every 
shrine ;  in  the  homes  alike  of  prince  and  peasant ;  at 
the  street  corners  and  by  the  way  side ;  often  in  popu- 
lar apprehension  endowed  with  the  power  of  weeping, 
mo- ion,  speech,  and  working  miracles.  |  \  By  such  grada- 


') 


*  Hemans,  Sacred  Art  in  Italy,  p.  534. 

f  See  the  reliefs  upon  the  marble  pulpits  of  Pisa  and  Sienna. 

X  See  CMC  at  Lucca,  ascribed  by  tradition  to  the  workmanship  of 
Nicodemas,  which  was  so  famous  as  to  be  swoVn  by  in  the  oath,  a 
favourite  one  with  the  Plantagenet  kings,  "  by  .Saint  Vult  of  Luoca." 
Hemans,  Sac.  Art,  p.  534.  Another  at  Naples  is  said  to  have  spoken 
in  approval  to  St.  Thomas  Aquinas.  Perhaps  the  most  revolting  ex- 
tant representation  of  Ouf  Lord  is  one  in  the  Cathedral  of  Buncos, 


i 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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Corporation 


23  WeST  NUUN  STHKT 

WnSTH.N.Y.  I45M 

(71*)  STIUSOS 


28c« 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


tions  between  the  soul  of  man  and  the  living  Saviour 
came  the  image  of  the  dead  Christ,  diverting  the  thoughts 
from  the  faith  in  a  living  Lord  to  an  idolatrous  venera- 
tion of  a  lifeless  symbol. 

Thus,  as  Dr.  Maitland  remarks,  in  painting  sight 
superseded  faith,  and  in  sculpture  touch  superseded 
sight.  But  still  another  resource  of  sensuousness  was 
to  be  discovered;  and  in  the  year  1223,  "when  the 
world  was  growing  cold,"*  as  the  Roman  Church, 
with  a  deeper  meaning  than  it  knew,  asserted.  Saint 
Francis  of  Assis  is  feigned  to  have  received  the 
stigmata  of  the  five  wounds  of  Christ,  and  thenceforth 
to  have  borne  about  in  his  body — a  living  crucifix— the 
marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  This  miracle  was  afterwards 
frequently  repeated ;  but  the  Church,  seeking  amid  the 
growing  darkness  of  the  times  to  walk  by  sight  and  not 
by  faith,  wandered  ever  further  and  further  from  the 
central  source  of  light  and  power,  and  lost  all  ability  to 
communicate  to  a  cold  and  dying  world  any  spiritual 
life  and  warmth. 

The  sad  lesson  of  the  history  we  have  been  tracing 
is  but  too  plain.  In  the  early  ages,  and  in  the  fervent 
glow  !t  primitive  faith,  no  outward  symbol  was  neces- 
sary to  reveal  to  the  soul  the  presence  of  the  Divine, 
or  to  interpret  the  profound  meaning  of  the  atonement. 
The  Church  required  no  sensuous  image  of  Him,  whom 
having  not  seen  she  loved,  to  prevent  that  love  from 
growing  cold.  As  the  fervour  of  faith  failed  she  relied 
more  on  the  visible  sign  to  quicken  her  languid  devo- 

in  Spain.  It  b  a  stuffed  human  skin,  w  th  a  wig  of  false  hair  and  a 
crown  of  real  thorns.  Elsewhere  are  Ecce  Homos  in  wax  with 
enamel  eyes,  and  other  puerile  and  unartistic  modes  of  treatment  of 
this  solemn  theme. 

•  Refrigerante  mundo,  says  the  Roman  office  for  St.  Fnincis'  day. 


Their  Symbolism. 


28  { 


tion ;  but  not  till  six  centuries  of  gathering  gloom  had 
passed  over  her  head  after  her  fatal  alliance  with  im- 
perial power  did  degenerate  art  dare  to  portray  to  the 
eye  of  sense  the  death  pangs  and  throes  of  mortal 
agony  of  the  suffering  Son  of  God.  In  the  church  of 
the  Catacombs  these  images  of  sadness  and  gloom  have 
no  place.  All  is  bright,  cheerful,  and  hope-inspiring. 
In  the  following  chapter  we  shall  see  that  these  charac- 
teristics are  strikingly  manifested  in  all  the  representa- 
tions of  Our  Lord  that  there  Ov':cur. 


Note. — We  have  made  no  reference  in  the  foregoing  remarks  to  the 
pre-Christian  crosses,  of  which  so  many  examples  occur.  It  is  not  re- 
markable that  this  perhaps  simplest  of  all  geometrical  figures  should 
have  attracted  the  notice  of  many  diverse  and  ancient  races,  and 
even  have  been  regarded  as  z  sign  of  potent  mystical  meaning.  This 
subject  has  been  treated  wich  n  good  deal  of  fantastic  theoir  by  S. 
Baring-Gould,  M.A.,  {Curious  Myths  of  the  Middle  Ages,  pp.  341,  et 
seq.  /)more  philosophically  byCreuzer,  {Symbolek,  pp.  lt%etseq.^xaA 
by  various  travellers  and  observers  of  ancient  remains  in  many  lands. 
Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter  mentions  the  hieroglyph  of  a  cross,  accompa- 
nied by  cuneiform  inscriptions,  which  he  saw  on  a  stone  among  the  ruins 
of  Susa.  {Travels,  vol.  ii,  p.  414.)  Prescott  mentions  its  occurrence 
among  the  objects  of  worship  in  the  idol  temples  of  Anahuac,  {Con- 
quest  of  Mexico,  vol.  iii,  pp.  338-340.)  It  was  found  on  the  temple 
of  Serapis  at  Alexandria,  which  fact  was  urged  by  the  pagan 
priests  to  induce  Theodosius  not  to  destroy  that  building.  (Socrates, 
Eccl.  Hist.,  v,  17.)  It  was  probably  a  Nilometer,  or  perhaps  the  so- 
called  "  Key  of  the  Nile,"  frequently  held  in  the  hand  of  Egyptian 
deities  as  the  emblem  of  life,  or  the  symbol  of  Venus,  probably  of 
phallic  significance.  (Tertul.,  Apol.,  c,  16.)  It  is  found  alsoon  Babylo- 
nian cylinders,  on  Phoenician  and  Etruscan  remains,  and  among  the 
Brahminical  and  Buddhist  antiquities  of  India  and  China.  (Med- 
hurst's  CAtiMf,  p.  217.)  It  was  also  the  sign  of  the  Hammer  of 
Thor,  by  which  he  smote  the  great  serpent  of  the  Scandinavian 
mythology.  On  rather  slender  evidence  S.  Baring-Gould  attributes 
its  use  to  the  pre-historic  lake-dwellers  of  Switzerland.  It  was  also 
found,  he  asserts,  combined  with  certain  ichthyic  representations  in  a 
mosaic  floor  of  pre-Christian  date,  near  Pau  in  France,  in  1850.  This 
example  was  probably  post-Christian. 


»! 


282 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   BIBLICAL   CYCLE  OF  THE  CATACOMBS. 

The  "  Circle  Biblico,"  or  Biblical  Cycle,  of  the  Cata- 
combs, as  De  Rossi  has  called  it,  partakes  of  the  same 
symbolical  character  as  their  other  art-creations.  It 
has,  for  the  most  part,  a  twofold  object :  first,  the 
literal  presentation  of  certain  historical  events;  and, 
second,  a  typical  or  allegorical  reference  to  the  spiritual 
truths  of  Christianity,  especially  to  the  cardinal  doc- 
trines of  the  sacrifice,  resurrection,  and  ascension  of 
Our  Lord.  The  range  of  this  art  cycle  comprehends 
the  grand  drama  of  redemption,  from  the  fall  of  man 
to  his  restoration  through  the  greater  Man,  Christ 
Jesus;  with  the  careful  avoidance,  however,  of  the 
scenes  of  the  passion,  which  are  nowhere  exhibited 
except  under  the  veil  of  allegory  or  symbol.  These 
numerous  and  varied  biblical  representations  imply  a 
remarkable  familiarity  of  the  primitive  Christians  with 
the  holy  scriptures,  in  striking  contrast  with  the  prev- 
alent ignorance  of  these  sacred  books  in  the  papal 
Rome  of  to-day.  Indeed,  these  storied  crypts  must 
have  been  a  grand  illustrated  gospel,  impressing  upon 
the  mind  of  the  believer  the  lessons  of  holy  writ,  and 
probably  furnishing  to  the  catechumens  of  the  faith 
and  recent  converts  from  paganism  a  means  of  instruc- 
tion in  these  sacred  themes.  The  execution  may  often 
be  coarse,  and  the  drawing  uncouth ;  but  to  the  devout 
mind  this  primitive  Christian   art  is  invested  with    a 


The  pibiical  Cycle, 


283 


man 


profounder  interest  than  all  the  triumphs  of  genius  in 
the  galleries  of  the  Vatican.* 

In  consequence  of  its  symbolical  purpose  this  hier- 
atic  series  is  rather  eclectic  than  cyclopaedic  in  its 
character.  Of  the  great  variety  of  available  topics, 
the  number  selected  for  akt-presentation  was  compar- 
atively limited  ;  and  the  artist,  in  the  treatment  of  these, 
frequently  contented  himself  with  the  constant  and  un- 
varied reiteration  of  the  same  types,  which  were  often 
of  the  rudest  and  most  conventional  form.  "  The  in- 
cidents that  exemplified  the  leading  doctrines  of  the 
faith,"  says  Kugler,t  "were  chosen  in  preference  to 
others."  Hence  the  very  fixedness  of  these  doctrines 
imparted  somewhat  of  their  own  character  to  the  pic- 
torial representations  employed. 

Subjects  from  the  Old  Testament  are  more  numerous 
in  proportion  to  the  whole  than  would  have  been 
anticipated.  This  is  also  a  result  and  illustration  of 
the  allegorical  nature  of  the  series.  "  Rome,"  says  Lord 
Linu«.-y,  "  seems  to  have  adopted  from  the  first,  and 
steadily  adhered  to,  a  system  of  typical  parallelism — 
of  veiling  the  great  incidents  of  redemption,  and  the 
sufferings,  faith,  and  hopes  of  the  church  under  the 
parallel  and  typical  events  of  the  patriarchal  and  Jew- 
ish dispensations."  I  We  can  refer  in  detail  to  only 
the    more   striking   of    these    biblical    scenes.       For 


*  In  the  has  reliefs  of  Chartres  Cathedral  and  in  other  mediaeval 
churches,  a  biblical  cycle  somewhat  analogous  in  character  to  that 
of  the  Catacombs  is  represented.  In  the  former  case  the  whole 
drama  of  time  from  the  creation  of  the  world  to  the  last  judgment 
is  set  forth  in  a  series  of  pictures  in  stone  comprising  1,800  figures, 
often  with  a  touching  naiveU  and  simple  grace. 

f  h'andbuch  der  Kunstgesckichte. 

\  History  of  Christian  Art,  vol.  i,  p.  47. 


284 


The  Catacombs  ^of  Rome. 


convenience  of  treatment  we  will  include  here  those 
sculptured  on  the  sarcophagi  as  well  as  those  painted  on 
the  walls.  The  temptation  and  fall  of  our  first  parents 
is  a  frequent  subject,  and  meets  with  considerable  va- 
riety of  treatment.*  They  are  generally  shown  as 
standing  by  the  tree  of  knowledge,  around  which  the 
serpent  coils,  and  receiving  from  him  the  fruit 

"  Whose  mortal  taste 
Brought  death  into  the  world  and  all  our  woe." 

In  the  following  example  from  the  Catacomb  of  Cal- 
lixtus,  the  fig-leaf  aprons  with  which  they  try  to  hide 
their  guilty  shame  indicate  that  the  act  of  disobedience 
has  been  already  consummated. 


Fiff.  62.— The  Temptation  and  Fcdl. 

*  In  an  ivory  diptych,  probably  of  the  fourth  century,  which  is  fig- 
ured in  Marriott's  Testimony  of  the  Catacombs,  is  a  very  spirited  has 
relief  of  Adam  in  the  garden  giving  the  beasts  their  names. 


Tlu  Biblical  Cycle. 


285 


On  a  sarcophagus  in  the  Lateran  Museum  is  a  bas 
relief  in  which  Our  Lord,  as  the  representative  of  the 
Eternal  Father,  is  seen  standing  between  Adam  and  Eve, 
and  giving  to  the  former  a  sheaf  of  grain,  the  symbol  that 
by  the  sweat  of  his  brow  he  should  eat  bread,  and  to 
the  latter  a  lamb,  that  she  may  work  diligently  with  her 
hands  in  the  domestic  employnf^ent  of  spinning — the 
allotted  labour  of  woman  in  every  age.  Perhaps,  also, 
as  Dr.  Northcote  suggests,  the  lamb  was  a  symbol  and 
mute  prophecy  of  "  the  Lamb  of  God  whom  the  sec- 
ond Eve  was  to  bring  forth  to  atone  for  all  the  evil 
that  the  hrst  Eve  had  brought  upon  mankind." 


FifT.  63.— Adam  and  Bve  Receiving  their  Sentence. 

On  another  sarcophagus  in  the  same  museum  is  a 
bas  relief  of  Cain  and  Abel  offering  their  respective 
sacrifices  of  the  fruits  of  the  ground  and  the  firstlings 
of  the  flock.  This  subject,  however,  is  exceedingly 
rare  in  the  Catacombs. 


i 


H 


i 


'dt       Ml 


286 


T/te  Catacombs  of  Rofne. 


One  of  the  most  frequently  recurring  figures  in  this 
series  is  that  of  Noah  in  the  ark.  This  is  always  re- 
peated in  one  unvarying  phase  of  the  most  jejune  and 
meagre  character.  There  is  no  attempt  at  historical 
representation  of  the  actual  scenes  of  the  deluge.  In- 
stead of  a  huge  ve.ssel  riding  upon  the  wavef,  with  its 
vast  and  varied  living  freight,  there  is  only  a  small  pul- 
pit-like enclosure,*  in  which  Noah  stands  and  receives 
in  his  hand  the  returning  dove  with  the  olive  branch  in 
its  mouth.  The  following  engraving,  which,  although 
apparently  out  of  perspective,  is  an  accurate  copy  of  a 
painting  in  the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus,  is  a  character- 
istic example. 

11^ 


Flff.  04.-Noah  in  the  Ark. 

Occasionally  the  position  of  the  patriarch  is  slightly 
altered,  as  in  Fig.  65,  from  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Priscilla ; 

*  Is  there  any  allusion  here  to  Noah  as  a  "preacher  of  righteous- 
ness ? " 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


28; 


but  this  is  all  the  variety 
of  treatment  of  which  the 
artistic  genius  of  the  age 
seemed  capable. 

In  the  bas  reliefs  the 
treatment  of  this  subject 
exhibits  a  still  greater  de- 
gree of  degradation  and 
constraint,  as  in  the  fol- 
lowing examples  from 
Christian  sarcophagi  of  the 
fourth  century. 

Sometimes  the  figure  lu- 
dicrously resembles  the 
toy  called  "  Jack  in  a  box," 
which     resemblance     is 


Fife   66.— Noftta  In  the  Ark. 


heightened  by  the  lid  being  half  open  and  a  lock  bting 
carved  on  the  front. 


Fiff.  ee.— Nosh  in  the  Ark. 

This  rude  representation,  however,  was  regarded,  in 
accordance  with  the  exposition  of  St.  Peter,*  as  a  sym- 

•  I  Pet,  Hi,  20,  21.  The  dove  is  the  symbol,  says  Tertiillian,  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  bringing  the  peace  of  God  after  the  mystical  lustration 
of  the  soul  in  baptism. — De  Baptismo^  .ii. 


288 


The  Catacombs  of  Roinc. 


bol  of  Christian  baptism ;  while  the  ark  was  the  figure 
of  Christ's  church,  in  which  believers  "may  so  pass  the 
waves  of  this  troublesome  world  that  finally  they  may 
come  to  the  land  of  everlasting  life."  The  dove  and 
olive  branch  may  further  imply,  that  the  weary  soul, 
being  justified  by  faith,  found  peace  with  God  and  en- 
tered into  endless  rest.* 

Another  favourite  subject  of 
the   early  Christian  artists  was 
the   sacrifice  of  Isaac,  an   ap- 
propriate   type   of  the    greater! 
sacrifice  to  be  offered  up  when,! 
in  the  fulness  of  the  time,  God 
should  provide  himself  a  lamb 
for  an  offering.    From  this  theme 
the  persecuted  Christians  doubt-       fi^,  67.— Apamean 
less  often  derived  spiritual  com-  iCedaL 

fort  amid  the  fiery  trials  of  their  faith  to  which  they 
were  exposed.  It  taught  also  the  duty  of  self-conse- 
cration. "  May  I,  like  the  youthful  Isaac,"  says  Paulinus, 
"  be  offered  to  God  a  living  sacrifice,  and,  bearing  my 
wood,  follow  my  Holy  Father  beneath  the  cross."  f  This 
subject  is  repeated,  with  considerable  variety  of  treat- 
ment, both  in  frescoes  and  in  sculpture.  In  Fig.  68, 
from  the  cemetery  of  St.  Priscilla,  Isaac  is  seen  bearing 


*  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  such  a  wide  departure  from  his- 
toric truth  took  place  in  these  representations.  It  has  been  suggested 
that  they  were  copied  from  some  pre-existing  type,  upon  which  this 
form  was  imposed  by  the  conditions  of  space  in  which  it  was  exe- 
cuted. Such  a  type  occurs  in  the  celebrated  Apamean  medals,  of 
date  A,  D.  193-21 1.  See  Fig.  67.  It  probably  commemorated  the 
Deucalion  deluge  ;  and  the  design  was  apparently  modified  by  the 
Christian  artists  to  represent  the  preservation  of  Noah, 
f  Hostia  viva  Deo  tanquam  paer  offerar  Isaac, 
£t  mea  ligna  gerens,  sequar  almum  sub  cruce  patrem. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


289 


Fiff.  08 .-The  Saoriflce  of  laoac. 

the  wood  for  the  sacrifice.  In  Fig.  69,  from  the  Cat3- 
comb  of  Marcellinus,  he  is  already  bound,  and  Abraham 
has  stretched  forth  his  hand  to  slay  his  son,  while  the 
divinely  substituted  lannb  appears  from  behind  the  altar. 


FlfT.  60.— The  Sacrifice  of  Isaac 

In  several  examples  a  hand  stretched  forth  from  on 
high  seizes  the  knife  to  prevent  the  consui  imation  of 
the  sacrifice.  (See  Fig.  107.)  It  is  recorded  that 
Gregory  of  Nyssa  frequently  shed  tears  on  reading 
this  pathetic  story. 

Joseph,  sold  by  his  brethren  and  afterward  saving 

them  alive,  was  a  striking  type  of  Him  who  redeemed 

19 


290 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


with  his  own  blood  the  guilty  race  which  caused  his  death. 
It  is,  therefore,  a  subject  that  appears  with  peculiar  pro- 
priety among  the  tombs  of  the  primitive  Christians. 

Several  scenes  from  the  life  of  Moses  are  delineated 
in  this  biblical  cycle.  One  of  these,  as  sometimes 
treated,  for  classic  grace  and  dignity  reminds  one  of 
some  noble  antique.  It  is  Moses  on  Mount  Horeb 
putting  off  his  shoes  from  his  feet.  This  act  is  inter- 
preted by  some  of  the  Christian  Fathers*  as  an  emblem 
of  the  renunciation  of  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil 
demanded  of  the  servants  of  Christ.  The  accompany- 
ing example,  Fig.  70,  is  from  the  cemetery  of  Callixtus. 


nff.  70.— Moses  on  Moiiut 
Horeb. 


Flff.  71.— Moses  Reoelvlnff  the 
Law. 


Fig.  71,  from  a  sarcophagus  in  the  Lateran,  represents 
Moses  on  Mount  Sinai  receiving  from  the  hand  of  God 
the  law,  which  was  to  be  the  schoolmaster  to  bring 

^E.  g.,  Greg.  Nazianz.,  Omt.  43. 


Tht  Biblical  Cycle. 


291 


men  to  Christ.  Moses  is  sometimes  exhibited,  also,  ns 
breaking  the  tables  of  the  law  on  his  descent  from  the 
mount. 

In  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Cyriaca  is  a  unique  picture 
of  the  descent  of  the  manna — the  emblem  of  the 
**True  Hread  which  came  down  from  heaven."  It  is 
seen  falling  in  a  copious  shower,  and  gathered  in  the 
vestments  of  four  Israelites.  According  to  Martigny 
the  accompanying  engraving.  Fig.  72,  from  the  Cata- 
comb of  St.  Priscilla,  and  another  in  the  Callixtan  Cata- 
comb, represent  Moses  standing  among  the  baskets  of 
manna  gathered  in  the  wilderness.  But  for  the  severe 
and  aged  expression  of  countenance,  so  different  from 
the  youthful  aspect  of  Our  Lord  in  the  frescoes  of  the 
Catacombs,  they  might  be  taken  for  pictures  of  ('hrist 


Flff.  72.— Moses  and  the  Bas-      Plff.  78.— Moses  Striking  the 
kets  of  Manna.  Rock. 

and  the  seven  baskets  of  fragments  left  after  feeding 
the  multitude. 


! 


2()2 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


ta 


( 


More  frequently  recurring  than  any  other  scene  in 
the  histor)  of  Moses  is  that  of  his  striking  water 
from  the  rock,  an  emblem  of  the  spiritual  blessings 
flowing  to  the  church  through  the  sufferings  of  the 
Messiah,  "  For  they  drank  of  that  spiritual  Rock  which 
followed  them;  and  that  Rock  was  Christ."*  The 
ilhistration  in  Fig.  73  is  taken  from  a  sarcophagus  found 
in  the  cemetery  of  St.  Agnes.  That  iu  Fig.  74  is  from 
a  fresco  of  earlier  date  in  the  Catacomb  of  Marcel- 
linus. 


Fi{f.  74.— Moses  Strikiner  the  Bock. 

In  two  or  three  of  the  gilded  glasses  to  be  hereafter 
mentioned,  which  are  of  comparatively  late  date,  this 
scene  is  rudely  indicated,  and  over  the  head  or  at 
the  side  of  the  figure  is  the  word  Petrvs  or  Peter. 
From  this  circumstance  P.oman  Catholic  writars  have 
asserted  that  in  many  of  the  sarcophagal  and  other  rep- 
resentations of  this  event  it  is  no  longer  Moses  but 
Peter,  "  the  leader  of  the  new  Israel  of  God,"  who  is 
striking  the  rock  with  the  emblem  of  divine  power — a 

♦  I  Cor.  X,  4. 


T)ie  Biblical  Cycle. 


293 


FifiT.  75.-The  Sufferings  of 
Job. 


conclusion  for  which  there  is  absolutely  no  evidence 
except  the  very  trivinl  fact  above  mentioned.* 

The  sufferings  o.  the  pa- 
triarch Job  form  the  sub- 
ject of  a  few  of  these  scrip- 
tural illustrations.  In  the 
accompanying  illustration, 
taken  from  the  cemetery 
of  Marcellinus,  he  is  seen 
sitting  in  his  sorrow  and  be- 
moaning the  day  that  gave 
him  birth.  Amid  their  fiery 
trials  of  persecution  the 
primitive  Christians  doubt- 
less often  found  comfort  in 
contrasting  their  sufferings 
with  the  still  more  terrible  afflictions  of  the  patriarch 
of  Uz. 

The  sarcophagus  of  Junius  Bass>uS  exhibits  a  bas 
relief  of  Job  comforted  by  his  friends.  The  complaint 
of  the  patriarch  that  even  his  wife  had  abhorred  his 
breath — so  reads  the  Vulgate  translation  of  Jerome, 
which  was  in  use  at  this  period — is  grotesquely  illustra- 

*  Paulinus  of  Nola,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  describes 
in  spirited  lines  certain  paintings  analogous  to  those  of  which  we 
have  been  speaking,  but  including  some  subjects  not  treated  in  the 
Catacombs.  Among  these  are  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  and  the 
destruction  of  Pharaoh  and  his  host,  Joshua  and  the  ark  of  God, 
Samson  bearing  away  the  gates  of  Gaza,  the  Israelites  crossing 
Jordan,  and  the  pathetic  episode  of  Ruth  and  her  sister-in-law,  the 
on<;  following  and  the  other  forsaking  the  stricken  Naomi,  the 
emblem,  as  the  worthy  bishop  remarks,  of  mankind,  part  deserting, 
part  adhering  to  the  true  faith : 

Ruth  sequitur  sanctam,  quam  deserit  Orpa,  parentem  ; 
Perfidinm  nums  una,  iidem  nunis  altera  monstrat. 
Pnefert  una  Deuin  patrije,  patriam  altera  vit;t. 


294 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


4  I 
J  1 


ted  by  a  female  figure,  who  holds  a  handkerchief  to  her 
nose.* 

The  victory  of  the  stripling  David  over  the  great 
champion  of  the  enemies  of  Israel  seemed  strikingly  to 
prefigure  the  triumph  of  primitive  Christianity  over  the 
colossal  paganism  to  which  it  was  opposed.  It  was  also 
the  symbol  of  the  victory  of  Our  Lord  over  a  mightier 
foe  than  the  insolent  Philistine ;  and  by  some  of  the 
Fathers  the  stones  and  sling  of  the  Jewish  shepherd-lad 
w^ere  likened  to  the  cross  of  Christ,  by  which  Satan  is 
vanquished  and  his  kingdom  overthrown.  The  devout 
monarch  of  Israel  was  also  a  recognized  type  of  Him 
who  was  the  root  and  the  offspring  of  David,  who  should 
inherit  his  throne,  and  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob 
forever. 

The  translation  of  Elijah  was  frequently  depicted 
as  being  typical  of  the  d':cension  of  Our  Lord,  which 
was  regarded  as  too  sacred  a  theme  for  direct  present- 
ment in  art.  The  chariot  generally  resembles  the 
classic  quadriga.  In  a  sarcophagal  example  in  the 
Lateran  Museum  Elisha  is  represented  as  reverently 
receiving  the  mantle  of  Elijah,  the  emblem  of  the 
double  measure  of  his  spirit  that  rested  upon  him.  In 
the  background  two  sons  of  the  prophets  gaze  with 
apparent  astonishment  on  the  scene.  Two  bears,  which 
are  also  indicated,  are  probably  intended  for  those  that 
devoured  the  children  who  mocked  the  prophet  Elisha 
on  his  way  to  Bethel. 


♦Jobxix,  17.  This  subject  i»  also  fantastically  treated  in  Me- 
diaeval art.  In  a  Byzantine  MS.  of  the  ninth  or  tenth  century  Job 
is  exhibited  as  sitting  in  lugubrious  melancholy  amid  the  ntins'of 
his  house,  while  Satan  is  dancing  before  him  in  fiendish  joy  over  the 
desolation  1  e  has  caused,  and  is  torturing  his  victim  with  a  red-hot 
goad.     Didron.,  Iconog.  Chtit.,  p.  158. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


295 


er 


In  Fig.  76,  from  a  fresco  of  earlier  date  in  the  Cat- 
acomb of  Callixtus,  it  will  be  seen  that  graves  have 
been  made  in  the  back  of  the  arcosolium^  cutting  off  the 
head  of  Elijah  and  the  feet  of  the  two  lower  figures. 

According  to  the 
strained  mode  of  in- 
terpretation of  Roman 
Catholic  writers  on  this 
subject,  the  gift  of  the 
mantle  of  Elijah  to  his 
successor  in  office  is 
a  type  of  Christ's  be- 
stowment  of  authority 


-J 

Oft 


upon  St.  Peter  as  the  ^ 
"  Prince  of  the  Apos- 
tles," and  his  espe- 
cial representative  on 
earth.  "  It  would  cer- 
tainly," says  Dr. North- 
cote,  "  have  reminded 
the  Roman  Christians 
of  the  pallium,  the 
symbol  of  jurisdiction 
worn  by  the  bishops 
of  Rome,  and  given 
by  them  to  metropol- 
itans as  from  the  very 
body  of  St.  Peter— Z?<r 
Corpore  Sancti  Petri."  *     A  more  ini probable  assumption 

♦  Roma  SotUrratua,  i.  310.  The  newly  elected  pope  receives  the 
investiture  with  the  words,  "  Receive  the  pallium,  to  wit,  the  fullness 
of  the  apostle's  office."  Pallia  are  sent  to  foreign  bishops  from  the 
tomb  of  St.  Peter,  and  those  who  receive  them  keep  them  "  in  obse- 
quium  Petri  " — in  obedience  and  devotion  to  Peter. 


296 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine.  Nobler  in  conception, 
which,  as  well  as  more  scriptural,  is  the  interpretation  of 
this  type  given  by  St.  Chrysostom :  **  Elias,  in  ascending 
into  heaven,  let  his  mantle  fall  on  EHsha :  Jesus,  when 
he,  too,  ascended  thither,  left  the  gift  of  his  graces  to 
his  disciples — graces  which  constitute  not  merely  a 
single  prophet,  but  an  infinite  numbe:  of  Elishas,  much 
greater  and  more  illustrious  than  that  one."* 

The  persecuted  saints  who  dared  to  encounter  death 
and  danger  in  their  most  dreadful  forms  rather  than 
deny  their  faith,  found  great  consolation  in  the  remem- 
brance of  God's  deliverance  of  his  servants  in  the  days 
of  old.  With  the  oloodthirsty  cry  of  the  ribald  plebs 
of  Rome — Christiani ad  leones — still  ringing  in  their  ears, 
and,  it  may  be,  with  the  roar  of  the  savage  beasts  of 
prey  crashing  on  their  shuddering  nerves,  they  were 
sustained  by  the  thought  of  the  fidelity  of  those  ancient 


Ficr.  77.— The  Three  Hebrew  Children. 

worthies  who,  for  their  integrity  to  God,  braved  the 
flames  of  the  fiery  furnace  and  the  perils  of  the  lions' 
den.  The  three  Hebrew  children  are  generally  exhib- 
ited with  the  oriental  tiara  and  tunics.  In  the  forego- 
*  Hum.  U,  In  Ascau.  Dom, 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


207 


ing  example  from  the  cemetery  of  St.  Priscilla,  a  dove  is 
shown  bringing  an  olive  branch,  the  pledge  of  victory 
and  peace. 

In  Fig.  78,  from  the  cemetery  of  Hermes,  they  are 
shown  as  standing  in  a  "  burning  fiery  furnace,"  whose 
flames,  though  heated  seven  times  hotter  than  their 
wont,  play  lambently  around  them  without  even  singe- 
ing their  garments. 


"FUg.  78.— The  Three  Hebrew  Children. 

In  the  following  example  from  the  Catacomb  of  St. 
Agnes  the  furnace  is  reduced  to  a  shalk  vessel  in 
which  the  Hebrews  stand  unhurt.  This  has  been  incor- 
rectly interpreted  as  a  representation  of  martyrdom  by 
boiling  in  oil.  Its  association,  however,  with  the  figure 
of  Daniel  in  the  lions'  den,  and  its  general  resemblance 
to  other  groups  of    the  same   subject,  unquestionably 


298 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


Plgr.  70— The  Three  Hebrew  Children. 


indicate    its    true 
character. 

In  all  these  the 
expression  of 
countenance  and 
attitudeof  the  im- 
mortal t  h  r  e  e — 
more  dauntless 
than    even    the 


'' ;! 


brave  Horatii  of  classic  story — as  they  stand  calmly 
amid  the  flames,  indicates  the  presence  with  them  in 
their  !?ery  trial  of  the  Almighty  Deliverer  of  his  saints. 
It  is  noteworthy,  however,  that  the  fourth  figure,  "  like 
the  Son  of  God,"  is  never  shown  in  these  groups.  It 
was  reserved,  as  will  be  hereafter  seen,  for  mediaeval  art 
to  attempt  the  representation  of  the  Divine. 

The  fait' I  and  heroism  of  many  of  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians in  refusing  to  burn  incense  on  the  heathen  altars, 
or  to  salute  the  statues  of  the  Caesars,  was  no  unworthy 
imitation  of  the  fidelity  of  these  Hebrew  youths  in 
refusing  to  worship  the  great  golden  image  set  up  on  the 
plains  of  Dura.  ' 

Daniel  in  the  den  is  generally  represented  by  a  nude 
figure  standing  between  two  lions,  with  his  hands 
stretched  out'  as  if  in  supplication,  and  thereby,  says 
St.  Gregory,  conquering  the  lions  by  prayer.  While, 
generally,  the  type  of  the  deliverance  of  God's  people, 
it  may  sometimes  by  association  have  been  a  memorial 
of  the  Christian  martyrs  devoured  by  wild  beasts  in  the 
neighbouring  Coliseum,  whose  sands  were  so  often 
drenched  with  their  gore.  The  following  fresco  from 
the  Catacomb  of  St.  Priscilia  is  a  characteristic  ex- 
ample.    See  Fig.  80. 

Sometimes  another  figure,  interpreted  as  "the  prophet 


The  Biblical  Cycle, 


299 


Habaccuc,"  is  depicted  as  borne  by  an  angel  by  the  hair 
of  the  head  and  offering  food  to  Daniel,  as  described 


Fiff.  80.— Daniel  in  the  Lions'  Den. 

in  the  apocryphal  story  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon.  Another 
fresco  represents  Daniel  as  giving  to  the  monster  the 
cake  which  he  had  prepared  for  its  destruction.  The 
story  of  Tobias  and  the  fish,  and  of  Susanna  and  the 
elders,  are  also  illustrated  in  this  remarkable  series  of 
paintings.  These  last  are  of  interest  as  indicating  a 
familiar  acquaintance  with  the  apocryphal  books  in  the 
early  centuries.  Figures  interpreted  as  Isaiah,  who 
seems,  like  the  Magi,  to  come  from  afar  to  lay  his  gifts  at 
the  feet  of  Christ,  and  as  Ezekiel  in  the  valley  of  dry 
bones,  also  occur  in  the  Catacombs. 

One  of  the  most  common,  and,  if  we  may  judge  from 
the  style  of  execution,  one  of  the  favourite  subjects 
of  mural  and  sarcophagal  presentation  in  this  biblical 
cycle,  is  the  history  of  Jonah.  It  is  repeated  over  and 
over  again  with  a  high  degree  of  picturesqueness,  and  with 
greater  variety  of  treatment  than,  perhaps,  any  other.  It 
appears  also  on  lamps,  vases,  medals,  gilt  glasses,  and 


300 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


funeral  slabs.  The  story  is  generally  represented  in  a 
series  of  four  scenes  :  the  storm,  and  the  monster  of  the 
deep  swallowing  the  prophet ;  his  deliverance  from  its 
horrid  jaws,  and  restoration  to  land ;  his  reclining  un- 
der the  shadow  of  the  gourd  for  refreshment  and  rest ; 
and  his  gloom  and  anger  when  the  gourd  has  withered 
away  and  he  lies  in  his  misery  beneath  the  burning  sun. 
Sometimes  the  four  scenes  occupy  the  four  walls  of  the 
cubiculum^  or  the  compartments  of  a  vaulted  ceiling;  or 
only  two  may  be  exhibited,  as  in  the  engraving  on  the 
opposite  page,  from  the  cemetery  of  St.  Priscilla,  in 
which  Jonah  is  portrayed  as  a  child  issuing  from  the 
mouth  of  the  sea-monster,  and  afterward  reclining  under 
the  booth. 

Sometimes  the  whole  history  is  compressed  into  one 
crowded  scene,  as  in  the  following  example.   (Fig.  8i.) 


Figr.  81.— The  History  of  Jonah. 


The  Biblical  Cycle, 


301 


302 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


The  character  of  the  little  bark  is  much  like  that  seen 
in  pagan  frescoes. 

In  some  instances  the  '  j""*  is  reduced  to  a  mere 
boat,  and  the  "  mariners  "  to  a  single  individual,  as  in 
Fig.  83,  from  the  cemetery  of  St.  Priscilla. 


Flff.  83.-Jonah  SwaUowed  by  the  "  Great  Ftsh." 

In  the  following  sarcophagal  example,  (Fig.  84,)  the 
somewhat  startling  anachronism  of  Noah  receiving  the 
dove  from  the  prow  of  Jonah's  vessel  appears  in  the 


Fig-.  84.— Noah  and  Jonali. 

background.       The    "sea"  is  here  a  narrow  stream; 
and  the  "  fish,"  a  monster  with  the  head  and  paws  of  a 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


303 


quadniped,  on  one  side  of  the  boat  is  swallowing  the 
disobedient  prophet,  and  on  the  other  is  casting  him 
forth  upon  the  rocky  shores.  Such  solecisms  are  by  no 
means  uncommon  in  these  groups. 

On  another  sarcophagus  in  the  Latenin  Museum  the  in- 
fluence of  pagan  thought  may  be  observed.  The  storm 
is  personified  by  a  triton  blowing  through  a  convoluted 
shell,  and  Iris,  hovering  with  floating  scarf  above  the 
ve.ssel,  indicates  the  calm  which  followed  the  casting 
out  of  the  prophet. 

The  "  great  fish  "  in  these  scenes  bears  no  resemblance 
to  any  living  thing.  It  is  generally  a  monster  with  con- 
torted body,  a  long  neck  and  large  head,  sometimes 
armed  with  horns,  (see  Figs.  81,  82,)  probably  to  distin- 
guish it  from  the  symbolical  fish,  the  emblem  of  Our 
Lord,  or  as  a  type  of  "  the  old  serpent,  the  devil."  The 
form  may  have  been  derived  from  the  mythological  rep- 
resentations of  the  marine  mo» "ter  from  whose  jaws 
Andromeda  was  rescued  by  Perf  eus.  The  latter  story, 
like  that  of  Deucalion  and  many  others  in  the  Greek 
mythology,  probably  had  its  origin  in  holy  scripture. 

This  subject  was  \iaturally  dear  to  the  early  Chris- 
tians, inasmuch  as  it  was  set  forth  by  Our  Lord  himself 
as  a  type  of  his  own  resurrection  and  that  of  his  disciples. 
Therefore  as  the  persecuted  believers  met  in  those  sol- 
emn  and  silent  diambers  of  the  dead,  they  inscribed  on 
the  sepulchral  slabs  which  hid  the  mouldering  dust  of 
the  departed  from  their  view,  or  on  the  walls  of  the 
cubicula  in  which  they  worshipped,  this  symbol  of  faith 
and  hope  in  the  glorious  resurrection.  It  also  conveyed 
a  lesson  of  sublimest  meaning  to  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians, called  to  be  witnesses  for  God  in  a  city  greater  and 
more  wicked  and  idolatrous  than  even  Nineveh.  It  was 
a  potent  incentive  to  fidelity  even   unto  death.     The 


304 


The  Catacotnbs  of  Rome. 


storm-tossed  bark,  the  ravening  monster,  and  the  proph- 
et's booth  and  gourd,  were  the  types  of  life's  rough 
voyage,  the  yawning  grave,  and  the  speedy  transit  to 
the  bowers  of  everlasting  bliss  and  the  refreshing  fruits 
of  the  tree  of  life. 

A  long  and  acrimonious  controversy  was  waged  be- 
tween Jerome  and  Augustine  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
plant  which  overshadowed  the  prophet.  Jerome  called 
it  ivy;  but  Augustine  retained  the  word  gourd  of 
the  older  Italic  version,  and  excluded  from  his  diocese 
of  Hippo  the  Vulgate  version  of  Jerome  containing  the 
obnoxious  translation.  It  is  a  curious  commentary  on 
an  ancient  dispute  in  the  church,  and  a  proof  of  the 
antiquity  of  the  Catacombs,  that  their  frescoes  seem  to 
have  followed  the  older  version^  and  to  have  given  their 
testimony  against  the  innovation  of  Jerome.  See  Fig.  85, 
a  copy  of  a  broken  sepulchral  slab,  in  which  the  prophet's 
booth  is  reduced  to  a  single  branch  of  a  gourd. 


Vig.  85.— Jonah's  Oourd. 

Here  ends  this  Old  Testament  cycle,  so  rich  in  holy 
teaching,  all  whose  types  and  symbols  point  to  the  great 
Antitype  of  whom  Moses  and  the  prophets  spake.  The 
New  Testament  series  will  in  like  manner  be  found  to 


The  Biblical  CycU, 


305 


cluster  around  the  person  and  work  of  the  Redeemer; 
to  the  exclusion,  however,  of  the  solemn  scenes  of  the 
transfiguration,  the  passion,  resurrection,  and  ascen- 
sion, which  are  the  principal  themes  of  later  religious 
art;  and  without  the  slightest  indication  of  tiiat  idola- 
trous veneration  of  Mary  which  is  the  chief  feature  of 
modern  Romanism,  thus  showing  how  far  that  church 
has  departed  from  the  usage  of  apostolic  times. 

The  first  subject  of  this  New  Testament  cycle  is  the 
manifestation  of  Our  Lord  to  the  Magi  by  the  blur  in 
the  east,  the  sign  that  the  Bright  and  Morning  Star  had 
risen  upon  the  world.*  Over  twenty  repetitions  of  this 
scene  are  found  in  the  Catacombs. 

The  following  sarcophagal  example,  from  the  Cata- 
comb of  Callixtus,  represents  the  Magi  bearing  their 
gifts,  and  led  by  the  star  to  the  place  where  the  young 


Flff.  86.-The  Adoration  of  the  MsiirL 


child  lay.  The  babe  is  seen  wrapped  in  swaddling- 
clothes  and  lying  in  a  manger.  An  ox  and  an  ass  ^tand 
near  the  divine  child,  probably  in  fanciful  allusion  to 
that  scripture,  "  The  ox  knoweth  his  owner,  and  the  ass 
his  master's  crib ;  "  as  well  as  in  historical  illustration  of 

*  Several  Romanist  writers  interpret,  with  doubtful  propriety,  a 
fresco  in  the  cemetery  of  St.  Priscilla  as  a  represetUation  of  the  Annun- 
ciation. True  to  its  gentle  genius,  the  art  of  the  Catacombs  passes 
over  the  tragical  scenes  of  the  Slaughter  of  the  Innocents,  whose 
horrors  later  art  has  delighted  to  portray. 

20 


3o6 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


Fiff.  87.— Adoration  of  the  li<8«ri> 


the  scene.     Joseph  and  Mary  appear  in  the  background 
as  mere  accessories  of  the  group. 

In  the  accompanying  engraving  of  a  fresco  in  the 
cemetery  of  St.  Marcellinus  the  virgin  mother  is  rep- 
resented as  seat- 
ed in  the  calm  at- 
titude and  dress 
of  a  Roman  ma- 
tron, holding  the 
infant  Christ  in  her 
arms,  but  not  in  the 
least  suggesting 
the  modem  Ma- 
donna.* The  Ma- 
gi bring  their  offerings  as  the  first-fruits  of  the  hom- 
age of  the  world.  Sometimes  the  number  is  increased 
to  four  or  reduced  to  two,  in  which  case  they  are 
arranged  on  either  side  of  the  Virgin,  to  preserve  the 
balance  and  symmetry  of  the  picture.f  The  figure  of 
Joseph  sometimes  completes  the  group,  but  generally 

*  In  the  church  of  the  Ara  Coeli,  at  Rome,  is  a  miraculous  image 
of  tlie  infant  Christ,  carved,  it  is  said,  out  of  wood  from  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  and  painted  by  St.  Luke.  It  is  known  as  the  Santissimo 
Bambino,  or  Most  Holy  Babe,  and  is  taken  in  its  state-coach  to  visit 
the  sick.  At  one  time  it  received  more  fees  than  any  physician  in 
Rome.  Its  fete  is  celebrated  by  theatrical  representations  of  the 
scenes  of  the  Advent.  The  apocryphal  Gospel  of  the  Infancy  tends 
to  popularize  this  feature  of  Romanism. 

\  According  to  an  ancient  tradition  mentioned  by  Origen  and  Leo  the 
Great  the  number  of  the  Magi  was  three.  In  the  mediaeval  miracle 
plays  they  are  called  three  gipsy  kings,  and  their  names  are  given 
as  Gaspar,  Melchior,  and  Belshazzar. 

The  early  Fathers  all  refer  to  the  adoration  of  the  Magi  as  a  proof 
of  the  divinity  of  Our  Lord,  not  as  any  homage  to  Mary.  See  Clem. 
Alex.,  Pad.,  ii,  8;  Origen,  c.  Cels.,  i,  p.  46;  Chrysos.,  in  Matt.  ; 
Jus.  Mar.,  Dial,  cum  Tiyph. ;  Iren., c.  Har.,  iii,  2 ;  Hieron.,  in  Esaiant^ 
vi,  19 ;  Ambr.,  in  Luc,  ii ;  Aug.,  Epiph.  Strm. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


307 


r 


as  a  young  and  beardless  man,  in  contradiction  to  the 
Romish  tradition  of  his  old  age,  derived  from  the  apoc- 
ryphal gospels.  These  legends  supply  the  theme  of 
much  of  the  religious  art  of  the  fifth  and  following  cen- 
turies; but  Dr.  Northcote  admits  that  "before  that 
time  Christian  artists  seem  strictly  to  have  been  kept 
within  the  limits  of  the  canonical  books  of  the  holy 
scripture."* 

A  fresco  in  the  Catacomb  of  Nereus  and  Achilles, 
attributed  to  the  second  century,  is  supposed  to  be  the 
oldest  extant  art-presentation  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  In 
these  early  pictures  she  is  generally  exhibited  as  veiled, 

*  Rom.  Sott.,  p.  261. — One  of  these  devout  fictions,  known  as  the 
Proto-Evangelium,  and  attributed  to  St.  James,  was  the  source  of 
those  legends  of  the  early  life  of  Mary  which  furnished  so  many  sub- 
jects to  Italian  art.  According  to  this  tradition  she  was  dedicated 
while  yet  an  infant  to  a  religious  life,  and  re.nained  till  twelve  years 
of  age  in  the  temple,  where  she  was  daily  fed  by  angels.  See  an  in- 
scription in  Provence:  MARIA  VIRGO  minister  in  templo  gero- 
SALE.  Later  legends  assert  the  angelic  pre-annunciation  of  her  birth 
and  her  immaculate  conception,  which  has  at  length  become  a  formu- 
lated dogma  of  the  church,  though  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  the  ancient 
Fathers.  (Kayes'  Tertul.,  p.  386  and  postea.)  St.  Joachim  and  St. 
Anne,  her  parents,  are  invoked  in  the  Missal,  which  also  asserts  her 
freedom  from  original  sin,  an  exemption  shared  only  by  Our  Lord, 
John  the  Baptist,  and  Jeremiah. 

In  her  youth,  says  the  Proto-Evangeliutn,  Mary  was  consigned  to 
Joseph,  not  for  marriage,  but  for  parental  guardianship.  A  num- 
ber of  suitors  claimed  her  hand,  but  the  apparition  of  a  dove  flying 
from  the  top  of  Joseph's  rod  indicated  the  divinely  chosen  spouse. 
In  course  of  time,  in  consequence  of  the  growing  superior  regard  for 
c^bacy,  the  legends  of  her  perpetual  virginity  were  developed,  al- 
though some,  at  least,  of  the  Fathers  held  a  contrary  opinion.  See  Ter- 
tuL,  DeMonogamia,  c.  8,  and  De  Came  Christine.  23  ;  Neander's 
Antignostikus,  Whedon's  Commentary,  Matt,  xiii,  55.  The  word 
irpuT^TOKiT^,  Jirst-bom,  applied  to  Jesus,  Matt,  i,  25,  implies  a  second 
bom  afterward,  as  in  Rom.  viii,  29,  "  first  bom  of  many  brethren  ; " 
otherwise  the  word  fiovoyev^f,  only  bom,  would  be  used,  as  in  Luke 
vii,  12  ;  ix,  38. 


!J 


3o8 


Tlie  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


and  expressing  dignity  and  modesty  in  her  attitude  and 
dress,  and  only  in  her  historical  relation  to  the  divine 
child.  Not  till  later  does  she  appear  alone,  or  even  as 
the  principal  figure.  Dr.  Northcote,  indeed,  cites  one 
example  apparently  of  Joseph,*  Mary,  and  the  infant 
Jesus,  concerning  which  he  says  that  the  Virgin  does  not 
enter  into  the  composition  as  a  secondary  personage, 
but  herself  supplies  the  motive  to  the  whole  painting.f 
In  the  engraving  which  he  gives,  this  indeed  appears  to 
be  the  case ;  but  in  the  original,  and  in  the  copy  given  by 
De  Rossi,!  which  shows  the  entire  painting,  the  figure  of 
the  Virgin  is  only  a  s^ry  small  and  subordinate  portion 
of  an  elaborate  decorative  design,  and  its  position  is  not 
upright,  as  if  it  were  the  principal  object,  but  horizontal, 
as  being  only  accessory  to  the  main  grouping.  All  these 
early  presentations  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  says  Mr.  Mar- 
riott, §  occur  only  in  such  connexion  as  is  directly  sug- 
gested by  holy  scripture,  and  none  of  them  would 
appear  out  of  place  in  an  illustrated  English  Bible, 
so  different  are  they  from  the  Madonnas  of  Roman 
Catholic  art. 

There  are  numerous  frescoes  in  the  Catacombs  of 
persons,  both  male  and  female,  in  the  attitude  of  prayer, 
hence  called  Oranti,  (see  Fig.  82,)  and  the  acciompany- 
ing  simpler  example  from  the  cemetery  of  Sts.  Peter 
and  Marcellinus.  These  are  frequently  found  on  sepul- 
chral slabs,  the  sex  and  apparent  age  of  the  Orante 
always  corresponding  with  that  of  the  person  named  \r 
the  inscription.     They  are  generally  regarded,  therefore, 

*  De  Rossi  and  some  other  writers  call  this  figure  Isaiah  without 
any  good  reason. 

f  Rom.  Sott.,  p.  260. 

\  Imagines  Seltct<t  Deiparct  Virginis,  pi.  iv.  This  picture  is 
thought  to  be  of  the  sixth  century. 

§  Test,  of  Catacombs,  p.  27. 


■ 


Tlu  Biblical  Cycle. 


309 


IS 


as  portraits  of  the  departed,  and  as  probably  indicat- 
ing that  they  lived  a  life  of  prayer,  and  died  in  the 
faith.  Thus  the  oranti,  in  Fig.  82  are  thought  by  Fer- 
ret to  be  intended  for  Pris- 
cilla,  in  whose  cemetery  it 
is  found,  and  her  com- 
panion.* It  is  at  least  most 
likely  that  they  represented 
the  deceased  and  not  anoth- 
er, in  the  same  manner  as 
modern  sepulchral  effigies, 
and  as  the  pictures  of  fos- 
sors,  vine-dressers,  and 
handicraftsmen  in  the  Cat- 
acombs. Dr.  Northcote  at 
one  time  admitted  this  ex- 
planation of  these  figures. 
"We  can  scarcely  err,"  he 
says,  "in  supposing  them 
to  be  the  persons,  whoever 
they  were,  who  were  buried 
in  these  chambers."!  But 
in  his  later  work  on  the 
Catacombs  he  says,  "  Pos- 


Fijf .  88 .— Orante. 


i5^^ 


sibly  this  conjecture  may  sometimes  be  correct,  but  in 
the  majority  of  instances  we  feel  certain  that  it  is  inad- 
missible;"  J  and  he  claims  them  as  representations 
of  the  Virgin  Mary,  or  as  symbols  of  the  Ch  ch,  the 
Bride  of  Christ,  whose  life  on  earth  is  a  life  of  prayer. 
This  is  manifestly  the  intention,  he  asserts,  when,  as 

*  One  of  these  has  a  saffron-coloured  robe,  and  soft  brown  eyes  and 
hair.  The  other  wears  a  deep  crimson  robe  with  purple  stripes.  Both 
are  richly  embroidered  .«.nd  bejeweled. 

f  Northcotc's  Catacombs,  p.  77.  \  Rom.  Soft.,  p.  255. 


3IO 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\\\ 


i:i 


is  frequently  the  case,  the  figure  is  found  as  a  companion 
to  that  of  the  Good  Shepherd ;  and  he  gives  an  engrav- 
ing from  Bosio  of  one  such,  which  is  catalogued  as  the 
"Good  Shepherd  and  the  Blessed  Virgin."*  But  in 
referring  to  Bosio  this  figure  is  found  to  be  not  the 
Virgin  Mary  at  all,  but  a  Christian  martyr,  as  is  indi- 
cated by  the  attribute  of  a  plumbata^  or  leaden  scourge, 
painted  beside  her,  which  is  omitted  in  Dr.  Northtcte's 
engraving,  (inadvertently,  as  he  explains ;)  and  she  is 
designated  by  Bosio,  Una  Donna  Orante — a  woman  m  the 
act  of  prayer.  And  this  figure  is  the  only  one  out  of  all 
figured  by  Bosio  and  Aringhi  which  at  all  agrees  with 
Dr.  Northcote's  description.  The  others  when  associ- 
ated with  the  Good  Shepherd  are  either  in  groups  of 
two  or  more,  or  are  mixed  with  male  oranti,  the  exist- 
ence of  which  Dr.  Northcote  seems  to  ignore. 

But  even  if  the  Virgin  Mary  were  referred  to  in 
these  paintings  it  would  prove  nothing  in  favour  of 
modern  Mariolatry.  Indeed,  nothing  could  be  more 
striking  than  the  contrast  between  these  simple  praying 
figures,  undistinguished  by  any  attribute  from  others  of 
the  pious  dead,  and  the  crowned  Queen  of  Heaven  re- 
ceiving the  homage  of  mankind,  of  later  Roman  Cath- 
olic a»t.  But  that  they  are  such  is  an  etitirely  gratuitous 
and  unwarranted  assumption ;  and  with  equal  propriety, 
or  rather  lack  of  it,  they  have  been  interpreted  by 
the  monkish  ciceroni  of  the  Catacombs  as  symbols  of 
martyrdom,  as  portraits  of  living  persons  praying  to  the 
dead,  and  as  saints  in  heaven  praying  for  men  on  earth. t 

*  Horn.  Sott ,  pi.  viii. 

f  The  circumstance  above  mentioned  is  another  evidence  that  no 
lexical  nor  historical  difficulties  are  any  obstacle  to  the  devout  cre- 
dulity of  Rome,  in  discovering  proofs  of  its  favourite  dogmas  where  a 
rational  criticism  is  unable  to  find  them. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


311 


'if 
f 


t 


t 


In  the  gilded  glasses,  to  be  hereafter  described,  which 
belong  to  a  ptriod  of  very  degraded  ait,  proba])ly  from 
the  fourth  to  the  sixth  century,  representations  of  the 
Virgin     mother 
sometimes     occur, 
recognized  by  her 
name  written  above 
her  head  after  the 
Byzantine  manner. 
She  appears  either 
alone,  or    between 
figures    of    the 
apostles  Peter  and 
Paul.  This  honour, 
however,  is  shared 
by  other  female 
saints,  especially  by 
Saint   Agnes.       In 
one  example  Mary 
wears  a  nimbus,   a 
proof  of  compara- 
tively late  date. 

One  fresco  in  the 
Catacomb  of  Sts. 
Thraso  and  Satur- 
ninus  has  been  sup- 
posed to  have  some 
reference  to  the 
Virgin  Mary.     It  is 

figured  in   the    lu-  ^  „  ^ 

o  Pigf.  89.— Supposed  Madonna. 

nette  of  the    vault 

in  the  accompanying  engraving.  (Fig.  89.)*    It  is  inter- 

♦  These  figures  are  given   in   minute   detail  in  Perrat.,  torn,  iii, 

planches  i6  to  20.      On  the  arch  and  on  the  other  lunettes  will  be 


/     r- 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I 


i 


preted,  however,  by  Bcttari,  a  distinguished  Romanist 
antiquary  as  not  a  painting  of  the  Madonna  at  all,  but 
simply  of  a  family  group. 

The  first  art-presentation  of  the  Virgin  Mary  bearing 
any  resemblance  to  the  conventional  Madonna,  which 
has  been  bO  endlessly  reproduced  and  so  idolatrously 
honoured  throughout  Roman  Catholic  Christendom,  is 
one  in  an  arcosolium  in  the  Catacomb  of   St.  Agnes. 


Fier.  90.— The  Barliest  Madonna. 

(See  Fig.  90.)  The  head  of  the  Virgin  is  veiled,  a  neck- 
lace of  pearls  adorns  her  person,  and  her  hands  are 
extended  in  prayer.  The  infant  Ch  ist  is  not  seated, 
but  standing  before  her,  as  is  common  in  a  favour- 
ite type  of  the  Greek  church,  especially  in  Russia — 
an  indication  that  this  was  probably  painted  by  a 
Byzantine  artist,  as  was  most  of  the  later  work  at 
Rome.  But  even  in  this  picture  the  early  Chris- 
tians, unprescient  of  the  Mariolatry  of  the  future,  would 
see  the  expression  only  of  a  loving  regard  for  her  who 

seen  the  "  great  fish  "  and  the  prophet  Jonah,  the  Good  Shepherd 
bearing  a  goat,  not  a  lamb,  on  his  shoulders,  and  the  ever-recurring 
peacocks  and  doves. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


313 


was  pronounced  the  "blessed  among  women."  The 
sacred  monogram  on  either  side  assigns  a  date  not 
earlier  than  the  fourth  century  to  this  painting;  an  i 
Martigny,  an  eminent  Romanist  authority,  thinks  it  is 
later  than  the  Council  of  Ephesus,  in  the  fifth  century, 
— A.  D.  431. 

By  this  time  a  sad  departure  from  primitive  ortho- 
doxy of  belief  had  already  taken  place.  The  blasphe  ■ 
mous  title  Theotokos,  Mother  of  God,  since  so  unhappily 
familiar,*  had  been  applied  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  at  first 
in  protest  against  the  Arian  heresy  which  denied  the 
divinity  of  Our  Lord,  and  not  in  exaltation  of  his  vir- 
gin mother.  Nestorius  strongly  objected  to  the  un- 
warranted and  antiscriptural  title,  and  suggested  that 
of  the  mother  of  Christ.  An  angry  controversy  re- 
sulted, to  appease  which  Theodosius  the  younger 
assembled  the  Council  of  Ephesus.  Nestorius  was 
judged  without  being  heard,  degraded  from  the  episco- 
p?.l  dignity,  and  sent  into  exile ;  and  the  obnoxious 
epithet  was  confirmed  through  the  exercise  of  fraud  and 
violence.  Flavianus,  a  member  of  the  Council,  actually 
died  of  wounds  received  in  that  turbulent  assembly; 
and  amid  these  disgraceful  scenes  was  first  formu- 
lated this  dogma,  which  has  been  fraught  with  such 
perilous  consequences  to  both  Greek  and  Latin 
Christianity. 

The  artistic  embodiment  of  this  doctrine  underwent 
a  rapid  decline.  The  sweet  and  tender  grace  of  the 
virgin  mother  disappears,  the  modest  veil  gives  place 
to  a  crown,  she  becomes  vulgarized  in  expression,  jew- 
els bedizen  her  person,  the  attitude  becomes  stiff  and 
lifeless,  the  countenance  darkens  and  assumes  an  ex- 

*  In  Byzantine  art,  pictures  of  the  Virgin    Mary  are  generally  in- 
scribed with  the  letters  MP  9T  for  MHTKP  GEOT— Mother  of  God. 


314 


h 


ll 


"lie  Catacvmbs  of  Rome. 


pression  of  pain  rather  than  that  of  gentleness  and 
peace,  and  the  innocent  smile  of  the  Divine  Infant 
gives  place  to  an  unnatural  severity  and  gloom.  The 
beginning  of  this  decline  is  seen  in  the  Madonna  already 
described,  (Fig.  9c,)  in  which  the  person  of  Mary  is 
adorned  with  a  showy  necklace  of  jewels.  This  type 
passes  by  rapid  gradations,  during  the  gathering  gloom 
of  the  dark  ages,  into  the  anguished  pictures  of  the 
Mater  Dolorosa,  bowed  down  with  sevenfold  sorrows, 
and  the  gross  images  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Bleeding 
Heart,  her  bosom  transpierced  with  a  naked  sword.* 
But  even  in  this  is  seen  the  striking  moral  contrast  be- 
tween the  spirit  of  Christian  and  that  of  pagan  art.  The 
loftiest  ideal  of  the  latter  is  the  expression  of  mere  cor- 
poreal beauty,  while  the  former  exhibits  the  noblest  type 
of  purity,  sorrow,  and  love  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
With  the  Renaissance  this  ideal  became  the  inspiration 
of  art,  and  gave  birth  to  those  triumphs  of  genius  which 
kindle  admiration  in  the  coldest  nature,  and  invest  with 
a  spell  of  pathos  and  power  a  dogma  which  the  judg- 
ment rejects. 

The  silence  of  the  primitive  Fathers  concerning  the 
worship  of  Mary  is  a  striking  evidence  of  its  non-exist- 
ence, and  their  language  when  they  do  speak  of  her 
still  more  strongly  demonstrates  that  fact.  Tertullian 
seems  to  infer  her  lack  of  faith  in  the  mission  of  Our 
Lord,  and  compares  her  unfavourably  with  Martha  and 
Mary.f     Prudentius  refuses  to  ascribe  to  her  absolute 

*  A  literal  interpretation  of  the  Scr  "e  :  "  Yea,  a  sword  shidl 
pierce  through  thine  own  soul  also." — Lukc  ii,  35. 

\  Mater  aequd  non  demonstratur  adhsesisse  illi,  cum  Marthse  et 
Mariae  aliae  in  commercio  ejus  frequentantur.  Hoc  denique  in  loco 
(Luke  viii,  20)  apparet  incredulitas  eorum  cum  is  doceret  viam  vitaj. 
— Dc  Came  Chtisti^  c.  7. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


3»5 


sinlessness.*  Augustine  asserts  the  natural  depravity 
of  her  flesh. t  Chrysostom  boldly  accuses  her  of  ambi- 
tion and  thoughtlessness,!  and  says,  "  She  shall  have  no 
benefit  from  being  the  mother  of  Christ  unless  in  all 
things  she  doeth  what  is  right."  §  Cyril  of  Alexandria, 
Basil  of  Csesarea,  and  Hilary  of  Poitiers,  speak  in  simi- 
lar unequivocal  terms,  which  Petavius,  the  Roman  the- 
ologian, says  are  not  fit  to  be  uttered.  |  The  Colly ri- 
dian  heretics,  indeed,  rendered  idolatrous  homage  to 
Mary ;  ^  but  Epiphanius  vehemently  denounces  the  prac- 
tice as  blasphemous  and  dangerous  to  the  soul.  "  Let 
Mary  be  held  in  honour,"  he  says,  "  but  let  her  not  be 
worshipped."**  Irenaeus  first  points  out  the  fanciful 
antithesis  between  Mary  and  Eve,  which  was  afterward 
so  remarkably  elaborated  in  Roman  thought  and  dic- 


*  Solus  labe  caret  peccati  conditor  orbis, 
Ingenitus  genitusque  Deus,  Pater  et  Patre  natus. 

— Apotheosis^  894. 

f  Nee  sumpsit  [Christus]  carnetn  peccati  quamvis  de  matema 
came  peccati. — De  Peccatorum  Meritis  et  Remissione,  lib.  i,  c.  24.  He 
further  beautifully  says :  Solus  unus  est  qui  sine  peccato  natus  est 
in  similitudine  carnis  peccati,  sine  peccato  vixit  inter  aliena  peccata, 
sine  peccato  mortuus  est  propter  nostra  peccata. — Ibid.,  c.  35. 

\  ^tXoTtfila  Kal  uTTovoia. — Horn,  in  Matt.,  xii,  47. 

§  See  the  words  of  Our  Lord  on  this  very  subject,  Luke  xi,  28  : 
"Yea,  rather  blessed  are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God  and 
keep  it." 

I  "  Infanda." — •  Theol.  Doginat.  de  Inrarn.,  lib.  xiv,  c.  i. 

^  These  heretics  receive  their  name  from  the  KoKkvpa,  or  cake, 
which  they  offered  to  the  deified  Virgin.  Thus  early  was  a  new  pa- 
ganism substituted  for  that  which  was  passing  away.  In  modern 
Rome,  cook-shops  are  dedicated  to  Mary  under  the  title  of  **  Our 
Lady  of  Cakes  and  Sugar- Plums,''  thus  literally  "  baking  cakes  to 
the  Queen  of  heaven,"  like  the  idolaters  of  Palestine  denounced  by 
the  prophet.  Madame  de  Stael  has  truly  said,  "  The  Catholic  is  the 
Pagan's  heir." 

**  Iren.,  adv.  Hareses,  lib.  iii,  c.  33 ;  lib.  v,  c.  19. 


' 


u 


316 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


tion.*  Ephraem  Syrus  and  Gregon'  Nazianzen,  indeed, 
speak  of  her  invocation  in  prayer,  but  this  was  an  honour 
already  bestowed  on  numerous  other  saints.  The  hea- 
then writers,  moreover,  who  accused  the  Christians  of 
worshipping  a  mere  man,  as  they  considered  Christ, 
would  surely  have  brought  a  similar  accusation  on  ac- 
count of  the  worship  of  Mary  if  it  were  known;  but 
we  nowhere  find  that  this  was  done.  Indeed,  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  contumely  and  opprobrium  with  which 
the  heathen  spoke  of  the  mother  of  Our  Lord  may 
have  intensified  into  superstitious  veneration  the  loving 
reverence  with  which  she  was  regarded  in  the  primitive 
ages.  Tertullian  quotes  the  blasphemous  pagan  epithet, 
"  the  harlot's  son,"  applied  to  Christ  in  allusion  to  his 
miraculous  birth. f  It  has  been  reserved  for  a  gifted 
modern  poet,  as  pagan  and  skeptical  in  sentiment  as 
Lucretius,  to  parallel,  or  even  surpass,  this  revolting 
impiety.J 

''^he  testimony  of  the  early  Christian  inscriptions  is 
not  less  strikingly  opposed  to  the  modem  Mariolatry  of 
the  church  of  Rome.  "  In  the  Lapidarian  Gallery," 
says  Maitland,  "  the  name  of  the  Virgin  Mary  does  not 
once  occur.  Nor  is  it  to  be  found  in  any  truly  ancient 
inscription  contained  in  the  works  of  Aringhi,  Boldetti, 
or  Bottari."§  No  Ave  Maria  or  Ora  pro  nobis^  no 
Theotokos  or  Mater  Dei^  occurs  in  any  of  the  subterra- 
nean crypts  or  corridors,  of  the  Catacombs.  Even  the 
name  Maria,  now  so  commonly  applied  in  varying  forms 

♦  See  the  hymn  in  the  office  of  the  Virgin ; 

Quod  Eva  tristis  abstolit 
Tu  reddis  ahno  germine. 

Compare  also  the  "  Ave  maris  stella." 

f  De  Spectaculis,  c.  30.         %  See  Shelley's  Notes  to  Queen  Mab, 
§  Maitl'nd,  p.  333. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


3»7 


to  both  males  and  females  throughout  Roman  (.'atholic 
countries,  does  not  c  cur  till  the  year  381,  and  only 
twice  afterward,  in  536  and  538 — an  evidence  of  the 
entire  absence  of  that  devotional  regard  now  lavished 
upon  the  Virgin  Mary.* 

This  religious  homage  was  only  gradually  developed 
to  its  present  full-blown  idolatry.  Its  traces  in  early 
Christian  art  are  extremely  infrequent  and  obscure.  In 
the  numerous  mosaics  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  century  at 
Rome  and  Ravenna,  the  figure  of  Mary  very  rarely 
occurs,  and  never  but  as  accessory  to  the  Divine  Child 
in  the  Nativity  or  Adoration  of  the  Magi.  In  these 
there  was  no  attempt  at  literal  portraiture,  but  only  the 
expression  of  the  virtues  that  adorned  her  character; 
"that,"  as  Ambrose  expresses  it,  "the  face  might  be 
the  image  of  her  mind,  the  model  of  uprightness."! 
Indeed,  Augustine  expressly  asserts  that  we  are  ignorant 
of  her  appearance. t 

During  the  seventh  century,  along  with  ?.  progressive 
barbarism  of  treatment  may  be  observed  a  gradual  ex- 
altation of  Mary  in  the  Roman  mosaics  to  those  places 
previously  devoted  to  the  image  of  Christ.§   In  the  eighth 

*  The  letters  B.  M.,  so  frequently  recurring  in  sepulchral  inscrip- 
tions, have  no  reference  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  They  stand  for  Bene 
Merenti — To  the  well-deserving,  or  Bonce  Memoriee—Oi  pious 
memory. 

f  Ut  ipsa  corporis  facies  simulacrum  fuerit  mentis,  figura  probilatis. 
— De  Virgin.,  lib.  ii,  c.  2. 

X  Neque  enim  novimus  faciem  Virginis  Manse. — De  Trin.,  c.  8. 

§  Aringhi  (tom.  ii,  p.  195)  copies  a  crucifixion  from  the  Catacomb 
of  "  Julii  Papae,"  in  which  Mary  appears  crowned  with  a  nimbus, 
and  bearing,  after  the  Byzantine  manner,  the  label  Dei  Genetrix — 
Mother  of  God.  It  was  probably  painted  by  a  Greek  artist  of  late 
date.  The  miraculous  images  of  Mary  are  too  numerous  to  mention. 
Among  these  are  the  winking  Madonna  of  Rimini ;  that  of  St.  Peter's, 
which  shed  blood  when   struck ;  that  of  Arezzo,  which  wept  at  the 


3<8 


The  Ottacomhs  of  Rome. 


,■ 


1 


'\' 


century,  according  to  D'Agincourt,  "  the  homage  paid 
to  her  was  no  longer  distinguished  from  that  rendered 
to  the  Lord  of  all ;  "*  and  the  Council  of  Constantinople 
decreed,  "  that  whoever  would  not  avail  himself  of  the 
intercession  of  Mary  should  be  accursed."  f  In  extant 
pictures  of  the  ninth  century  she  is  exhibited  in  bejew- 
elled purple  robes  as  the  crowned  Queen  of  Heaven, 
receiving  the  homage  of  the  four  and  twenty  elders  and 
of  the  celestial  hosts.J  In  this  century  also  the  legend 
of  her  bodily  assumption  to  the  skies,  which  has  since 
become  such  a  prominent  theme  in  Roman  Catholic  art 
and  doctrine,  is  first  represented  in  the  crypts  of  St. 
Clements  at  Rome.§ 

profanity  of  some  drunkards  ;  another  at  Rome,  which  shed  tears 
at  the  invasion  of  the  French ;  stranger  still,  one  at  Lucca,  which 
transferred  the  infant  Christ  from  one  ami  to  the  other  to  preserve 
him  from  danger ;  and  one  mentioned  in  the  Fablieux  of  Le  Grand, 
which,  when  a  scaffold  broke,  stretched  forth  a  painted  arm  to  rescue 
from  death  the  artist  to  whom  she  owed  her  existence  !  The  practi- 
cal and  undevout  curiosity  of  the  Czar  Peter  of  Russia  exposed  the 
fraud  of  one  of  the  weeping  Madonnas  of  the  Greek  church  by  the 
detection  of  a  reservoir  of  water  behind  her  eyes.  In  popular  legend, 
also,  Mary  has  often  come  down  from  her  throne  of  glory,  not  to  com- 
municate lessons  about  sin  and  salva'ion,  but  to  secure  some  trivial 
gain  or  to  recover  some  lost  money. 

♦  Peinture,  tom.  ii,  p.  38. 

f  Harduin,  iv,  430,  A.  D.  712. 

\  In  the  church  of  St.  Cecilia  at  Rome.  The  homage  of  the  Vir- 
gin was  now  called  virepdovXeia — the  highest  degree  of  veneration. 

§  This  legend  is  first  mentioned  by  Gregory  of  Tours  in  the  sixth 
century,  (Df  Gloria  Afart.,  lib.  i,  c.  4,)  next  by  John  Damascenus  in 
the  eighth  century,  but  is  most  fully  detailed  in  the  Legenda  A  urea 
in  the  fourteenth.  Some  of  the  earlier  paintings  represent  with 
touching  naivetk  the  translation  of  the  soul  of  Mary  as  anew-born  in- 
fant to  heaven,  where  it  is  received  in  the  arms  of  her  Divine  Son. 
In  later  art  the  assumption  is  more  literally  represented,  and  Mary  is 
received  and  crowned  by  the  three  persons  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
while  angels  bear  her  train.  Bodily  assumption  was  also  attributed 
to  John  the  Baptist  and  Mary  Magdalene. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


3»9 


In  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  the  apotheosis 
of  Mary   is  complete.     In  a  fresco  at  Rome,  of  date 
1 154  A,  D.,    Popes  Callixtus  II.   and    Anastasius    IV. 
are  shown  embracing  her  feet   in   adoration,  and  trans- 
ferring  to  the    human  mother  the    homage  due  alone 
to  the  Divine  Son.     She  is  now  worshipped  co-ordi- 
nately with  Christ,  or,  indeed,  almost  to  his  exclusion, 
her  name  being  substituted  for  his  in  many  of  the  collects 
of  the  church.     Much  of  the  language  of  Scripture  was 
also  blasphemously  perverted  from  its  proper  applica- 
tion to  her.     The  glowing  images  of  the  Song  of  Songs, 
addressed  to  the  church  as  the  spouse  of  Christ,  were 
also  applied  to  Mary  as  her  right ;  and  one  of  Rome's 
most  common  and  popular  books  of  devotion  of  this 
period,    the  psalter    of    her    "  Seraphic    Doctor,"    St. 
Bonaventura,  has  a  shocking  parody  on  the  book  of 
Psalms,  in  which  the  name  of  God  was  every-where  ex- 
punged and  that  of  Mary  substituted   instead.*     The 
At^e  Maridy  with  its  human  additions,  was  regarded  as 
of  equal  importance  and  value  with  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
and  was  made  the  basis  of  the  vain  repetitions  of  the 
rosary.     Mary   now   shares  the  government  of  heaven 
and   earth,   "  raised    higher   than    cherubim   and   ser- 
aphim,"! throned  in  glory,  sitting  on  a  rainbow,  en- 
veloped  in    an   aureole,    clothed    with    the   sun,   the 
moon   beneath  her   feet,    a   crown  of  stars  upon  her 
head,  %  ^^^  r«;.cliating  from  her  person  beams  of  light, 

*  E.  g.t  Psa.  Ixviii,  i  ;  '*  Let  Mary  arise,  and  let  her  enemies  be  scat- 
tered." On  one  of  the  principal  churches  of  Rome  may  still  be 
read  the  awful  per\'ersion  of  Scripture :  "  Let  us  therefore  come 
boldly  to  the  throne  of  Mary,  that  we  may  obtain  mercy  and  find 
grace  to  help  in  time  of  need." 

f  The  expression  of  Modestus,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem  in  the  seventh 
century.  » 

\  In  allusion  to  the  woman  in  the  Apocalypse,  xii,  I. 


320 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


^ 


the  proper  attribute  of  deity.*  She  is  frequently  rep- 
resented, even  in  heaven,  with  the  infant  Christ  in  her 
arms,  a  mere  accessory  to  indicate  her  personality,  as  if 
to  show  his  relative  inferiority. f  She  becomes,  too,  her- 
self the  object  of  prayer,  having  a  special  litany  and 
numerous  offices  in  the  liturgy  of  the  church ;  while 
her  praises  are  chanted  in  some  of  its  noblest  lyrics. 
She  is  addressed  as  the  gate  of  heaven,  J  the  morning 
star,§  and  the  refuge  of  sinners ;  Q  and  is  exhorted  to  suc- 
cor the  wretched,!^  protect  from  enemies,  receive  in  the 
hour  of  death,*  *  and  intercede  with  God  for  men.f  f  She 
is  endowed  with  the  faculty  of  omniscience  and  ubiq- 
uity, and  is  made  almost  to  thrust  the  Eternal  from 
his  throne  by  her  usurpation  of  his  divine  prerogatives.  J  J 
But  this  impious  blasphemy  seems  to  have  culmi- 
nated in  the  Italian  frescoes  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
in  which  the  infamous  Giulia  Famese  is  exhibited  in 
the  character  of  the  Madonna,  and  Pope  Alexander  VI., 
the  execrable  Borgia,  kneeling  as  a  votary  at  her  feet. 
The    Florentine    churches,    too,    were    desecrated   by 

*  See  a  fresco  in  the  Campo  Santo^  Pisa, 

f  In  the  church  of  Gesu  e  Maria  at  Rome. 

^  Janua  Coeli.  §  Stella  matutina. 

I  Refugium  peccatorum.  ^  Succurre  miseris. 

*  *  Tu  nos  ab  hoste  protege,  et  mortis  hora  suscipe.  • 

f  f  Ora  pro  populo,  interveni  pro  clero  intercede  pro  (^evoto  femineo 
sexu.     See  also  in  the  *'  Ave  Maris  Stella," 

Salva  vincla  reis, 
Profer  lumeii  caecis. 
Mala  nostra  pelle. 
Bona  cuncta  posce. 
See  also  the  "  Regina  CfEli,"  and  the  "  Ave  Regina  Ccelonim." 
X  X  She  has  been   actually  designated  the  Fourth   Person  of   the 
Trinity.     In    Rome   there   are   twenty-seven  churches  dedicated   to 
Mary  for  one  dedicated  to  Christ. 

"  In  dangers,  in  difficulties,  in  doubts."  says  the  Roman  Breviary, 
"  in  the  abyss  of  .sadness  and  despair,  think  of  Mary,  invoke  Mary." 


i 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


321 


portraits  of  well-known  harlots,  flaunting  their  mere- 
tricious beauty  as  the  personations  of  the  mother  of  Our 
Lord.  For  his  denunciation  of  these  profanations  and 
of  other  impieties  Savonarola  perished  at  the  stake.* 

The  rapid  development  of^ariolatry,  the  great  cor- 
ruption of  Christianity,  as  Hallam  has  justly  called  it, 
may  to  some  extent  be  regarded  as  a  reaction  against 
the  harsh  and  austere  character  which  was  given  to  Our 
Lord  both  in  art  and  dogma.  He  was  enthroned  in 
uwful  majesty  as  the  dreadful  Judge  of  mankind.  Re- 
moved from  human  sympathy,  inspiring  only  terror  to 
the  soul,  he  was  no  longer  Christ  the  Consoler,  but 
Christ  the  Avenger.f  Religion  was  darkened  by  dismal 
bodings  of  endless  doom,  and  embittered  by  the  fierce- 
ness of  polemic  strife ;  and  the  moral  atmosphere 
seemed  lurid  with  the  hurtling  anathemas  of  rival  sects. 
To  the  yearning  hearts  of  mankind ;  to  the  multitude 
of  the  weary  and  the  heavy  laden,  to  whom  the 
Saviour's  voice,  "  Come  unto  me,  and  I  will  give  you 

*  In  the  church  of  S,  Maria  Magglore  at  Rome  may  be  seen  a  re- 
stored mosaic  of  the  adoration  of  the  Magi,  in  which  Mary  is  repre- 
sented, with  a  golden  nimbus  and  tunic,  as  sitting  on  a  chair  of  state 
higher  than  that  of  the  Divine  Child.  But  in  copies  of  the  original 
mosaic  of  the  fifth  century,  made  two  centuries  ago,  (Ciampini,  Vet. 
Man.,  i,  p.  200,)  Mary  is  standing,  without  any  nimbus  or  other  sign  of 
honour,  by  the  side  of  Christ,  who,  attended  by  angels,  occupies  the 
throne.  This  was  evidently  a  vindication  of  the  divinity  Of  the  Son 
of  Mary  against  the  heresies  of  the  Arians,  which  has  feefrft  petrerted 
by  modem  Romanists  to  an  exaltation  of  the  Virgiti  to  Co-equal 
honours  with  the  Son  of  God. 

The  figure  of  Mary  as  the  Queen  of  heaven  I'n  the  chtifch  of  St. 
Nicholas  at  Rome  is  said  by  Papebrocius,  a  Roman  authority,  to 
have  been  originally  intended  for  Our  Lofd,  but  aftetward  altered 
to  the  Madonna,  a  significant  illustration  of  the  substitution  of  her 
worship  for  that  of  her  Divine  Son. 

f  See  the  wrathful  image  of  Christ  in  the  Last  Judgment  of  the 
Campo  Santo  and  the  SistineChipel. 

21 


122 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


rest,"  was  inaudible  amid  the  conflicts  of  the  times ; 
and  especially  to  those  bowed  down  with  a  sense  of  sin 
and  sorrow,  and  trembling  at  the  thought  of  the  severe, 
inexorable  Judge,  the  gentle  gospel  of  Mary  came  with 
a  sweet  and  winning  grace  that  found  its  way  into  their 
inmost  souls.  All  images  of  tenderness  and  ruth  sur- 
rounded her.     The  blending 

Of  mother's  love  with  maiden  purity  * 

touched  the  hidden  springs  of  feeling  which  exist  in  the 
rudest  natures,  and  made  the  worship  of  Mary  a  religion 
of  hope  and  consolation.  She  became  the  new  Media- 
trix between  the  sinful  human  soul  and  the  Father  in 
heaven.  Those  who  shrank  from  God  fled  for  succour 
to  the  virgin  mother.  The  pitifulness  of  her  human 
nature  was  esteemed  a  stronger  ground  of  confidence 
than  that  infinite  compassion  and  everlasting  love  which 
was  manifested  in  the  agony  and  bloody  sweat  of  Geth- 
semane  and  the  cross  and  passion  of  Calvary.  Hence 
Mary  has  often  been  regarded  as  a  sort  of  tutelar  divin- 
ity by  the  ferocious  brigand  who  stained  with  blood 
the  scapular  which  he  wore  as  a  sacred  talisman ;  and 
by  the  daughter  of  shame  who,  in  strange  blending 
profligacy  and  devotion,  cherished  her  image  in  the 
very  lair  of  vice. 

But,  as  there  is  a  soul  of  goodness  in  things  evil,  so 
even  the  antiscriptural  perversions  of  Mariolatry  were 
not  without  some  moral  benefit  to  mankind.  In  a 
coarse,  rude  a^^e  a  new  ideal  of  excellence  was  devel- 
oped.  A  morose  asceticism  was  spreading  on  every 
side,  denouncing  the  sweet  and  gentle  charities  of 
hearth  and  home,  and  forbidding  the  love  of  wife  and 


♦  Wordsworth's  EccUs.  Sonnets,  xxi. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


3^3 


rhild  to  those  who  would  attain  to  the  heights  of  holiness. 
Woman  was  degraded  as  a  being  of  inferior  nature,  re- 
garded as  "  a  necessary  evil,"  and  forbidden,  as  un- 
worthy, to  touch  with  her  hand  the  sacred  emblems  of 
the  passion  of  Christ.  But  this  cultus  of  Mary  raised 
woman  to  a  loftier  plane  of  being,  invested  her  with  a 
moral  dignity  and  power  infinitely  superior  to  any  thing 
known  to  pagan  times,  and  called  forth  a  deeper  rev- 
erence and  more  chivalrous  regard. 

This  example  of  all  womanhoo<l, 
So  mild,  so  merciful,  so  strong,  so  good, 
So  patient,  peaceful,  loyal,  loving,  pure,* 

ennobled  and  dignified  the  entire  sex,  and  therefore 
raised  and  purified  the  whole  of  society.  The  worship 
of  sorrow  softened  savage  natures  to  more  human  gen- 
tleness, and  ameliorated  the  horrors  of  long  dark  cen- 
turies of  cruelty  and  blood. 

We  have  dwelt  thus  long  on  this  development  of 
Romanism  on  account  of  the  remarkable  prominence 
and  enhanced  dignity  it  has  received  by  the  bull  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception,  issued  on  the  individual 
authority  of  the  present  pontiff,!  ^^^  by  the  decree  of 
his  personal  infallibility  imposed  on  all  Roman  Catholic 
Christendom.  We  have  seen  how  alien  it  is  to  the 
entire  spirit  and  teachings,  both  in  art  and  litera- 
ture, of  the  primitive  church,  and  have  traced  its 
growth  with  the  decline  of  Christianity,  like  a  fungus 
on  a  dying  tree,  till  it  has  sapped  its  very  life,  and  con- 
cealed its  early  beauty  and  strength  beneath  defonnity 
and  decay. 

♦  Longfellow's  "  Golden  Legend." 

f  Dec,  1854.     An  inscription  in  St.  Peter's  commemorates  its  pub- 
lication. 


3^4 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


• 


The  other  groups  of  the  New  Testament  cycle  are 
chiefly  scenes  in  the  life  of  Our  Lord,  together  with 
representations  of  some  of  his  principal  miracles  and 
two  or  three  illustrations  of  the  parables.  This  series, 
it  must  be  confessed,  is  of  exceedingly  meagre  charac- 
ter and  limited  range,  being  remarkable  as  much  for 
what  it  omits  as  for  what  it  contains.  Out  of  the  vast 
number  of  subjects  which  have  been  treated  in  later 
religious  art.  a  comparatively  few  have  been  selected, 
which  are  over  and  over  repeated  with  unvarying  itera- 
tion of  type. 

The  accompanying 
bas  relief,  from  the 
sarcophagus  of  Ju- 
nius Bassus,  (A.  D. 
359>)  is  probably  in- 
tended for  Christ 
"sitting  in  the  midst 
of  the  doctors,  both 
hearing  them  and  ask 
ingthem  questions."* 
He  is  here  shown 
seated  on  a  curule 
chair,  wearing  a  Ro- 
man toga,  and  hold- 
ing a  half  open  scroll 
in  hi  i  hand.  His  feet 
Pifif.  Ol.-Christ  with  the  Doctom.    ^^^^  ^n  a  scarf  held 

by  an  allegorical  figure,  probably  a  personification  of 
the  earth — a  conception  borrowed  from  Pagan  art. 

Frescoes  of  the  baptism  of  Our  Lord  occasionally  oc- 
cur ;  f  but  the  scenes  of   the  temptation,  the  subject  of 


*  Luke  ii,  46,     Such  is  Didion's  opinion. 


f  See  Fig.    132. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


3^5 


such  grotesque  treatment 
in  mediaeval  art,  nowhere 
appear  in  the  Catacombs. 

On  a  sarcophagus  in  the 
Lateran  Museum  is  an  il- 
lustration of  Our  Lord's 
first  miracle  at  Cana  of 
Galilee,  in  which  he  is 
touching  the  water-r>ots 
wich  his  rod  of  power  a»"1 
turniag  he  water  into  wii-e. 

Chrisc   talking  with   the 

woman  of  Samaria  at  the 

well  of  Sychar  is  a  subject 

that  is  frequently  repeated  ^^-^^--Cbriat  and  the  Woman 

r  I      1-   r      T      1  of  Samaria, 

m  fresco  and  relief.     In  the 

accompanying  example  from  a  sarcophagus  in  the  Later- 
an, a  windlass  of  priwiitive  construction,  like  those  still 
common  in  the 
Campagna,     is 
shown. 

The  healing 
of  the  paralyt- 
ic has  been 
regarded  as  a 
type  of  the  res- 
toration of  the 
soul  paralyzed 
by  sin.  Inge- 
nious Roman- 
ists have  dis- 
covered herein 
a     symbol     of       Flflf-  03.— *'!»©  Healing  of  the  Paralytic. 


326 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\ 


"  the  Sacrament  of  Penance,"  and  also  of  "  Baptism 
and  the  Remission  of  Sins."  In  the  frescoes  of  the 
Catacombs  the  man  is  represented  in  the  act  of  obeying 
the  command,  "Take  up  thy  bed  and  walk."  Some- 
times the  bed  is  a  mere  reticulated  frame-work.  It  is 
also  shown  as  in  the  foregoing  example  from  the  Cata- 
comb of  Callixtus.    See  Fig.  93. 

Our  Lord    healing  the   infirmity  of  the  woman  with 
the   issue  of  blood,  who  drew  nigh  and   touched  the 

hem  of  his  gar- 
ment, is  9  fre- 
quent subject  of 
both  sarcophagal 
and  mural  pre- 
sentation. In  the 
accompanying  ex- 
ample from  a  bas 
relief  of  the  fourth 
century  the  Sav- 
iour is  apparently 
uttering  the 
words,  "  Daugh- 
ter, be  of  good 
comfort,  thy  faith 
hath  made  thee 
whole."  In  the  background  is  seen,  in  confused 
perspective,  a  Christian  basilica  of  the  period,  with 
its  semicircular  absis  and  detached  baptistery.  The 
doors  are  hung  with  heavy  curtains  to  exclude 
the  noontide  heat,  as  is  still  common  in  Italian 
churches.* 

♦Numerous  references  to  these  veils  occur  in  the  Fathers;  e.g.^ 
Paulin.,  iVa/flt/.  Felic,  iii,  6  :  Aurea  nunc  niveis  ornantur  limina  velis  ; 
Hieron.,  Epitaph.  Nepot, :  Vela  seini)er  in  ostiis ;  Epiphan.,  ep  aJ 


Piff.  94.— Christ  Healingr  the  Woman 
with  the  Issue  of  Blood. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


327 


The  miracle  of  the  multiplication  of  the  loaves  and 
fishes  is  a  theme  of  frequent  treatment  in  early  Chris- 
tian painting  and 
sculptul'e,  and  was 
regarded  in  the 
writings  of  the 
Fathers  as  a 
eucharistic  type 
of  Him  who,  as 
the  true  Bread 
from  heaven,  gave 
his    body    to    be  ^^'  ©^.-The  Miracle  of  the  Loaves  and 

fishes, 
broken  for  the  life 

of  the  world.  Sometimes,  as  on  a  sarcophagus  in  the 
Lateran,  Our  Lord  stands  between  two  disciples  bless- 
ing with  either  hand  the 
food  which  they  hold. 
Occasionally,  as  in  the 
foregoing  fresco  from  the 
cemetery  of  St.  Priscilla, 
the  scene  is  represented  by 
a  group  of  disciples  kneel- 
ing on  the  ground  as  if  they 
had  just  received  the  food 
so  marvellously  multiplied.  ^ 
At  their  feet  are  seen  the  m 
loaves   and   fishes,  and  in  - 

the    foreground  stand   the 

,      ,  r  II     /•  /■         Fiff.    06.— Chralt    Opening  the 

seven  baskets  full  of  frag-  ^^^  ^^  ^^e  Blind. 

ments  that  remained. 


I 


1 


yohan.  Hierosol. :  Inveni  vela  pendens  in  foribus.  They  were  used 
also  at  the  entrance  of  Pagan  schooLs,  "  to  conce&l,"  says  Augustine, 
"  the  ignorance  that  took  refuge  within." 


' 


328 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I 


The  miracle  of  opening  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  which 
was  at  once  a  fulfillment  of  the  ancient  prophecies  con- 
cerning the  Messiah  and  a  type  of  that  moral  illumi- 
nation which  he  should  impart,  appropriately  found  a 
place  on  the  tombs  of  those  who  had  been  called  from 

darkness  into  God's  marvellous 
light.  The  preceding  example 
is  from  the  Catacomb  of  CaL 
lixtus. 

Our  Lord  laying  his  hand  in 
blessing  on  the  head  of  a  little 
child,  or  probably  teaching  hu- 
mility and  rebuking  the  ambi- 
tion of  his  disciples  by  setting  a 
child  in  their  midst,  is  a  fre- 
quently recurring  subject  in  this 
primitive  cycle.  It  was  a  lesson 
which  the  early  Christians  of 
PUrure  07.  -Our  Lord  r^^^  ^^d  often  to  learn  :  that 
bleasinff  a  little  ChUd.     ,      .,    ^  .,  , 

he  that  would  be  greatest  among 

them  must  be  the  servant  of  all ;  that  exaltation  of  office 
was  only  pre-eminence  of  danger  and  of  toil.  The 
example  above  given  is  from  the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus. 
A  bas  relief  in  the  Kircherian  Museum,  of  the  parable 
of  the  sower  and  the  seed,  appropriately  symbolized  the 
sowing  in  the  furrows  of  society  of  the  good  seed  of  the 
kingdom,  from  which  should  spring  a  harvest  of  righteous- 
ness. The  frequent  representations  of  fishing  scenes  may 
refer  to  the  occupation  of  several  of  the  first  disciples  of 
Our  Lord,  or  to  their  spiritual  vocation  as  fishers  of 
men.  In  these,  however,  Roman  Catholic  writers  have 
fancied  an  allusion  to  the  sacrament  of  baptism.  Wc 
have  already  seen  in  the  ever-recurring  figure  of  the 
Good  Shepherd  an  illustration  of  the  beautiful  parable 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


339 


of  the  lost  sheep,  and  a  most  appropriate  symbol  of  thi; 
Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  all  souls.  In  the  Catacomb 
of  St.  Agnes  is  a  fresco  of  the  five  wise  virgins  of  the 
parable  going  forth  to  meet  the  bridegroom,  and  it  is  so 
designated  by  Bosio.*  Each  of  the  virgins  bears  in  her 
hand  the  vessel  of  oil  to  replenish  her  lamp ;  the  fore- 
most holds  a  torch  or  candle  of  wax,  anciently  much 
used  in  Roman  marriage  processions,!  as  it  still  is;  while 
the  others  bear  branches  of  palm  in  token  of  festivity. 
A  distinguished  Roman  theologian  has,  however,  with 
perverted  ingenuity,  discovered  in  the  vessels  of  oil  the 
modern  ecclesiastical  situla,  or  holy-water  vases,  and  in 
the  radiant  torch  of  the  foremost  figure  the  tufted  asper- 
gillum  with  which  the  holy  water  is  sprinkled.  J 

The  story  of  Lazarus,  as  we  may  easily  conceive,  was 
an  especial  favourite  of  the  early  Christian  artists.  It 
spoke  to  the  deepest  feelings,  and  inspired  the  loftiest 
hopes  of  the  primitive  believers.  Rescued  from  the 
darkness  and  despair  of  paganism  as  to  the  future  state 
of  the  soul,  they  grasped  with  intensest  fervour  the  glo- 
rious doctrine  of  its  immortal  existence  and  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body.  Amid  the  gloom  of  the  Cat- 
acombs, and  surrounded  by  the  silent  congregation  of 
the  dead,  they  heard  with  joy  the  thrilling  words,  "  I 
am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life,"  and  laid  their  loved 
ones  to  their  rest,  not  with  everlasting  farewells  and 
passionate  complainings  at  the  gods,  but  exulting  in  the 
hope  of  a  blessed  immortality.  Therefore  they  engraved 
on  the  funeral  slab,  or  painted  on  the  tomb,  this  record 
of  Christ's  triumph  over  death,  as  a  symbol  of  that 
hope  which  kept  their  hearts  strong  in  life's  trial  hour. 

*  Prudentes  quinque  virgines  olei  vasa  cum  lampadibus  deferentes. 
—Roma  Sotteranea,  torn,  iii,  p.  171. 

f  Plutarch,  Quast.  Rom.  J  Rock's  Hierurgia,  p.  463. 


330 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


These  representations  are  of  every  de- 
gree of  artistic  merit,  from  the  rudely 
scratched  and  scarcely  intelligible  out- 
line, to  the  elaborately  sculptured  bas 
relief  on  the  costly  sarcophagus.  Of  the 
former  the  annexed  is  perhaps  the  sim- 
plest example  to  be  found.  It  is  of 
date  A.  D.  400. 

Lazarus    is  generally    exhibited   as   a 

Pi».  08.— Laz-  mummy-like    figure,  "  bound  hand   and 

foot  with  grave-clothes,"  standing  in  a 

temple-shaped    tomb    or    adicula^    like    those    which 

line  the   Appian   Way.      This   figure    Our   Lord,   the 

Prince  of  Life,  is 
touching  with  the 
rod  of  his  power, 
as  shown  in  the  ac- 
companying fresco 
from  the  Catacomb 
of  Sts.  Peter  and 
Marcellinus. 

The  figure  of 
Mary,  frequently 
of  very  diminutive 
size,  setting  all  pro- 
portion at  defiance* 
Plff.  OO.-The  Raisinfir  of  La«araa.       j^  ^^^^^  depicted  as 

crouching  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and  sometimes  as 
kissing  his  hand  in  gratitude  for  restoring  her  brother 
to  life.  Sometimes,  also,  Martha  is  seen  standing  by 
the  tomb,  and  the  disciples  standing  around  Jesus. 
The  following  engraving,  from  a  sarcophagus  in  the 
I^ateran,  is  a  characteristic  example  of  the  ordmary  type. 
A   much   less   frequent   subject  of    art-presentation 


The  Biblical  Cycle, 


33' 


was  Mary  Magdalene  holding  in  her  hands  the  "  ala- 
baster box  of   very  precious 
ointment,"     wherewith    shs, 
anointed  Our  Lord.  c^-^ 

Christ's  triumphant  entry     H  ) 
into  Jerusalem,  the  presage     vs  [ 
and  symbol  of  his  final  vie-     ^  fii 
tory  in   the  world    and  en- 
trance as  the  King  of  Glory 
into  the  New  Jerusalem  on 
high,  occurs  with  great  fre- 
quency and  considerable  va- 
riety of  treatment.   Although 
dissociated  from  this  scene 
in  the  gospel  narrative,  Zac- 
chaeus  is   almost   invariably  F*»-  lOO.-RaisinRof Lazarus.* 
connected  therewith  in  this  primitive  art,  and  generally 


mfir.  101.— Christ's  Triumphal  Entry  into  Jerusalem. 

*  On  an  ivory  diptych  in  the  Educational  Museum  at  Toronto, 
Ca.,  the  raising  of  Lazarus  appears  exactly  after  this  primitive  type. 


I 


\\ 


. 


332 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\;<l 


' 


\ 


' 


appears  mounted  in  a  tree  gazing  at  the  procession. 
At  times  the  scene  is  reduced  to  its  simplest  elements; 
at  others,  as  in  Fig.  loi,  from  a  sarcophagus  in  the  Lat- 
eran,  it  is  more  elaborately  treated,  exhibiting  the  mul- 
titudes spreading  their  garments,  and  strewing  branches 
of  palm  before  the  .meek  conqueror. 

Peter's  denial  of  his  Master  is  a  theme  that  is  fre- 
quently repeated.  The  cock,  whose  crowing  awoke  the 
disciple's  late  remorse,  without  which  it  would  some- 
times be  impossible  to  discriminate  the  scene,  is  gener- 
ally shown,  as  in  the  following  sarcuphagal  example 
from  the  Late  ran  Museum. 

As  we  have  already  re-' 


marked,  the  tragic  scenes 
of  the  passion  of  Our 
Lord  find  no  place  in  this 
primitive  cycle.  'J'hese 
were  felt  to  be  subjects  for 
devout  meditation  rather 
than  for  pictorial  treat- 
ment. The  early  Chris- 
tians preferred  to  contem- 
plate Christ  rather  as  the 
victor  over  death  and  hell, 
than  as  the  victim  of  sufTer- 
Piar.  102.-Peter'8  Denial  of    ing  and  shame.     "  The  ago- 

ny,  the  crown  of  thorns, 
the  nails,  the  spear,"  says  a  distinguished  critic  of  this 
primitive  art,*  "  seem  all  forgotten  in  the  fullness  of  joy 
brought  by  his  resurrection.  This  is  the  theme,  Christ's 
resurrection,  and  that  of  the  church  in  his  person,  on 
which,  in  their  peculiar  language,  the  artists  of  the 
Catacombs  seem  never  weary  of  expatiating;  death  swal- 
*  Lord  Lindsay,  Christian  Art,  vol.  i,  p.  51. 


I 


llw  Biblical  Cycle, 


III 


lowed  up  in  victory,  and  the  victor  crowned  with  the 
amaranth  wreath  of  immortality,  is  a  vision  ever  before 
their  eyes,  with  a  vividness  of  anticipation  which  we, 
who  have  been  born  to  this  belief,  can  but  feebly 
realize."  * 

The  only  scenes  connected  with  the  passion,  besides 
that  of  the  denial,  already  given,  are  those  which  oc- 
curred in  the  judgment-hall  of  Pilate,  and  a  unique 
example  of  Simon  bearing  the  cross.  One  scene  in 
particular  seems  to  have  been  selected  rather  as  a  testi- 
mony of  Christ's  innocence  than  of  his  sufferings.  It  is 
that  in  which  Pilate  declares,  **  I  have  found  no  fault 
in  this  man ;  **  and  calling  for  water  washes  his  hands, 
as  if  to  blot  out  the  damning  guilt  of  that  judicial 
murder.     In  the  accompanying  engraving,  from  a  muti- 


■ 


Flgr*  103.— Pilate  on  the  Judfirment  Seat  Washing  his  Hands. 


lated  bas-relief  in  the  Lateran  Museum,  this  scene  is 
exhibited.     In   the   original  the  face  of  the  irresolute 


It 


334 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I 


. 


governor  seems  to  express  compunction  at  this  perver- 
"'on  of  justice  to  which  he  is  yielding.  In  the  back- 
ground is  seen  the  profile  of  his  wife,  as  though  utter- 
ing her  solemn  admonition  against  the  impending  crime. 
The  servant  with  thi:  ewer  and  empty  basin  appears  in 
conformity  with  the  oriental  ablutionary  custom  of  pour- 
ing water  upon  the  hands. 

In  the  last  compartment  to  the  right  of  the  remark- 
able sarcophagus  in  the  Lateran,  represented  in  Fig.  104, 
this  scene   is   repeated.      Associated  therewith  in  the 

next  adjoining  compartment  are 
two  figures  interpreted  as  Christ, 
guarded  by  a  Roman  soldier, 
witnessmg  a  good  confession  be- 
fore Pontius  Pilate.  The  crown 
above  the  head  of  the  latter,  if 
not  a  mere  architectural  decora- 
tion, may  indicate  the  reward 
of  those  who  confess  Christ  be- 
fore men. 

Thij  sarcophagus  exhibits,  as 
Dr.  Northcote  admits,  "  the 
nearest  resemblance  to  the  later 
representations  of  Our  Saviour's 
Passion  to  be  found  in  early 
Christian  art."*  The  Constan- 
tinian  monogram  in  the  central 
compartment  has  been  already 
described.!  To  the  left  is  seen 
the  figure  of  Christ  crowned, 
not  with  thorns,  but,  as  if  sym- 
bolizing his  crown  of  rejoicing 
on  high,  with  a  garland  of  flowers.  The  last  compart- 
*  Rom.  Sott.,  p.  307.  f  See  Book  II,  chap,  ii,  p.  269. 


I 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


ment  exhibits  Our  Lord,  or,  more  probably,  Simon 
the  Cyrenian,  bearing  the  cross  under  the  guard  of  a 
Roman  soldier.  "  But  there  are  none  of  the  traces 
of  suffering,"  says  Dr.  Northcote,  "with  which  later 
artists  have  familiarized  our  imagination,  and  the  crown 
above  points  to  the  reward  for  bearing  the  cross  after 
our  suffering  Master."*  In  one  instance  the  Roman 
soldiers  are  shown  smiting  Our  Lord  on  the  head 
with  a  reed ;  f  but  no  nearer  approach  to  the  con- 
summation of  the  supreme  sacrifice  of  Calvary  is  ever 
attempted. 

Neither  are  the  august  themes  of  Christ's  resurrec- 
tion and  ascension  historically  treated  in  this  biblical 
cycle,  but  only  under  the  Old  Testament  types  of  Jonah 
and  Elijah.  One  group,  hypothetically  interpreted  as  the 
Noli  me  tangere,  or  Our  Lord  saying  to  Mary  on  the 
morning  of  the  resurrection,  "  Touch  me  not,  for  I  am 
not  yet  ascended  to  my  Father,  "  more  probably  rep- 
resents the  gratitude  of  Mary  for  the  resurrection  of 
her  brother  Lazarus.  Numerous  frescoes  of  seven  men 
eating  a  repast  of  bread  and  fish  may  refer  to  Our  Lord's 
appearing  to  his  disciples  on  the  sea-shore,  or  to  the 
celebration  of  the  Agape. 

We  find  only  one  event  subsequent  to  the  ascension 
occasionally  represented  on  the  early  Christian  sarcoph- 
agi, namely,  the  apprehension  of  Peter.J  which  was 
probably  regarded  as  a  type  of  his  being  finally  bound 
for  his  crucifixion.  He  is  to  be  discriminated  from  Our 
Lord  arrested  by  the  Roman  soldiers  by  his  bearded 

*  Rom.  Soft.,  p.  308. 

f  According  to  Romish  tradition,  the  Divine  Sufferer  received  five 
thousand  stripes  during  his  scourging.  This,  as  they  would  be  in- 
flicted by  Roman  soldiers,  would  be  beyond  human  endurance,  and 
was  far  beyond  what  Jewish  or  Roman  law  would  allow. 

X  Acts  iv,  3. 


3 


I 


3yy 


r. 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


w 

!   ■ 


i» 


' 


face,  and  by  the  Jewish  caps,  which  mark  the  satellites  of 
Herod  Agrip;)a.  It  is  remarkable  that  so  little  reference 
is  made  to  St.  Peter  in  this  early  Christian  sculpture,  and 
that  little  indicating  no  degree  of  superiority  over  the 
other  apostles ;  and  the  fact  is  inexplicable  on  the  Roman 
theory  of  his  primacy  in  the  so-called  Apostolic  College. 
In  the  still  earlier  frescoes  of  the  Catacombs  he  is  no- 
where especially  designated  by  name  or  attribute.  The 
only  apostle  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  the  twelve 
is  St.  Paul,  who,  in  a  fresco  in  the  Catacomb  of  St. 
Priscilla,  is  seen  side  by  side  with  the  Good  Shep- 
herd, and  indicated  by  the  inscription — pavlvs  pas- 
tor APOsroLvs,*  Indeed,  this  was  the  especial  title  of 
St.  Paul  as  being  "  in  labors  more  abundant "  than  any 
of  the  apostles.f  Even  on  the  sarcophagi  St.  Peter 
is  only  once  or  twice  exhibited  as  bearing  the  symbol- 
ical rod  of  power,  and  these  examples  may  be  of  the 
fifth  or  sixth  century.  In  certain  of  the  gilt  glasses 
already  mentioned  he  is  allegorically  portrayed,  in- 
stead of  Moses,  as  smiting  the  rock,  implying  the  opinion 
that  he  was  in  some  sense  the  representative  of  the  lat- 
ter in  the  New  Testament  economy.  But  these  glasses 
are  of  comparatively  late  date,  when  the  notion  of  the 
primacy  of  St.  Peter  was  already  partially  developed ; 
and  even  in  these  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  are  often  found 
side  by  side,  without  any  sign  of  the  superiority  of  the 
former. 

It  is    easy  to  discriminate  in   early  Christian  art  be- 

*  Aringhi,  Roma  Sotterrattea,  torn,  ii,  p.  273. 

\  Hence  Augustine  asserts  that  if  the  name  of  the  apostle  is  not 
expressly  mentioned,  St.  Paul  is  always  understood  by  this  title — 
Apostolus  cum  dicetur,  si  non  exprimatur  quis  apostolus  non  intel- 
ligitur  nisi  Paulus. — Contra  duas  Epis.  Pelag.,  lib.  iii,  c.  3.  The 
apostles  were  sometimes  represented  by  twelve  men,  but  without 
any  individual  distinction. 


Tfu  Biblical  Cycle. 


337 


tween  the  two  apostles  so  highly  honoured  at  Rome  * 
by  the  strongly  marked  conventional  types  to  which 
their  portraits  almost  invariably  conform.  St.  Paul  is 
characterized  by  the  nobler  form  of  face,  a  high,  bold 
forehead,  aquiline  Jewish  nose,  dark  hair  and  eyes,  a 
flowing  and  pointed  beard,  and  a  refined  and  thought- 
ful expression  of  countenance  as  became  one  brought 
up  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel  and  instructed  in  all  the 
wisdom  of  Greek  philosopher  and  Hebrew  sage.  The 
Galilaean  fisherman  is  represented  with  strongly-knit 
frame,  broad  rustic  features,  short  gray  hair,  a  thick 
and  closely  curling  beard,  generally  of  silvery  white, 
and  an  expression  of  much  force  and  energy  of  charac- 
ter.! It  is  probable  that  these  types  were  derived  from 
authentic  tradition  if  not  from  actual  portraits.| 
Eusebius,  Augustine,  and  others  of  the   Fathers,  claim 

*  O  Roma  felix,  quae  duorura  Principum 
Es  consecrata  glorioso  sanguine ; 
Horam  cruore  purpurata  ceteras 
Excellis  orbis  una  pulcritudines. 
— Office  for  the  Festival  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul. 

St.  Paul  is  designated  the  illustrious  doctor,  the  vase  of  election,  the 
teacher  of  the  nations,  and  preacher  of  truth  throughout  the  world. — 
Egregie  doctor  Paule,vas  electionis,  doctor  gentium,  praedicator  veri- 
tatis  in  universio  mundo. — Jbid. 

f  Of  these  types  are  the  portraits  on  a  bronze  medal  found  in  the 
Catacomb  of  St.  Domitilla,  in  the  so-called  tomb  of  Sts.  Peter  and 
Paul  at  St.  Sebastian's,  and  in  the  early  sculptures,  mosaics,  and  paint- 
ings generally. 

\  The  scoffing  Lucian,  who  may  have  conversed  with  some  who  wit- 
nessed the  execution  of  St.  Paul,  describes  him  as  "  the  bald-headed 
and  long-nosed  Galiloean,  who  mounted  through  the  air  into  the  third 
heaven  " — YaKiKaloq,  ava^ahxivria^^  knlp/^ivog,  eg  rplrov  ovpavdv  uepo. 
jiarriaag.—^Philopatris.  Nicephorus  and  the  Acts  of  Paul  and  Tliecla 
describe  him  as  bald — ^LAog  ri/v  Ke<f>a?i,^v.  The  apocryphal  Acts  and 
Malalas  add  the  epithets  yAvKig  and  ;j;«/jfrof  nXrjpTig,  sweet, and  full 
of  grace. 

22 


i 


I 


•J 


338 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


1 


\     4 


to  have  seen  representations  of  these  apostles  preserved 
in  painting ;  and  the  reputed  portraits  alleged  to  have 
been  sent  by  Pope  Sylvester  to  the  Emperor  Constan- 
tine  are  annually  exhibited  at  St.  Peter's  for  the  venera- 
tion of  the  faithful.* 

Nowhere  in  the  Catacombs  do  we  f  id  the  least  sup- 
port for  the  notion  that  St.  Peter  is  in  any  sense  the 
founder  of  the  church  in  Rome,  much  less  the  rock  on 
which  the  church  universal  is  built.  That  honour  is  as- 
signed in  early  Christian  art,  as  it  is  by  the  apostle  him- 
self, to  Jesus  Christ,  the  "chief  corner-stone,  elect, 
precious."  f 

*  The  cultus  of  Peter,  the  result  of  the  growing  conception  of  his 
primacy,  was  developed  to  a  d^;Tee  second  only  to  that  of  Mary. 
Its  extent  and  character  in  the  ninth  century  are  indicated  by 
a  mosaic  in  the  triclinium  of  San  Giovanni  di  Laterano  at  Rome, 
in  which  the  apostle,  seated  on  a  lofty  throne,  with  the  keys 
of  heaven  and  hell  lying  in  his  lap,  is  besiowing  the  pallium,  or 
symbol  of  ecclesiastical  power,  on  the  most  hcly  lord,  Pope  Leo — so 
he  is  designated — and  the  standard  of  battle  oi'  the  Emperor  Charle- 
magne, both  of  whom  are  kneelii^  at  his  feet  Beneath  is  the  fol- 
lowing prayer,  addressed  to  Peter  as  to  God :  beate  petre  dona 
VITA  LEONI  PPE  BICTORIA  CARLO  REGi  DONA,  "  Blessed  Peter,  give 
life  to  Pope  Leo,  and  victory  to  King  Charies." 

This  religious  cultus  culminated  in  the  erection  of  that  noblest 
of  all  earthly  temples,  raised  to  the  honour  of  a  lowly  fisherman,  and  in 
the  idolatrous  homage  paid  to  the  great  bronze  statue  cast  from  that 
of  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  if  it  be  not  indeed  the  identical  statue  of  the 
heathen  deity  transformed  into  that  of  the  Christian  apostle  and 
Romish  saint. 

f  We  may  here  notice  the  precious  Romish  relic  known  as  St.  Peter's 
chair.  In  June,  1867,  the  present  pontiff  ordered  the  bronze  covering 
with  which  this  object  of  veneration  had  been  concealed  for  two  hun- 
dred years  to  be  removed,  and  the  chair  was  found  to  be  a  solid 
oaken  structure  with  iron  rings,  by  which  it  could  be  carried  like  the 
idla  gestatoria,  in  which  the  popes  are  borne  in  religious  processions, 
and  covered  in  part  with  ivory  plates  on  which  are  engraved  the 
labours  of  Hercules  and  other  scenes.  This  chair,  which  is  commem- 
orated in  one  of  the  festivals  of  the  church.  Romish  tradition  asserts 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


339 


Fiff.  105.— Painted  Chamber  in  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Affnes.* 

These  biblical  pictures,  we  may  here  remark,  are  not 
grouped  indiscriminately,  but  are  often  arranged  in  a 
regular  order  having  reference  to  their  doctrinal  signifi- 
cation. The  v^alls  and  ceilings  of  the  cubicula  are  fre- 
quently divided  into  compartments  of  geometrical  design, 

to  be  that  in  which  St.  Peter  sat  while  exercising  episcopal  authority 
at  Rome,  and  in  which  it  is  presumed  he  was  borne  in  state,  like 
those  haughty  pontiffs  who  claimed  to  be  his  successors.  It  is  supposed 
to  have  been  preserved  during  the  ages  of  persecution  in  the  crypts 
of  the  Catacombs  ;  indeed,  tradition  identifies  the  Catacomb  of 
Ostrianus  on  the  Appian  Way  as  the  scene  where  this  relic  was  ven- 
erated in  the  early  centuries.  Those  who  regard  the  fact  of  Peter's 
presence  in  Rome  as  exceedingly  hypothetical,  and  who  altogether  re- 
ject the  notion  of  his  episcopal  authority,  will  regard  any  refutation 
of  this  legend  as  superfluous. 

An  inscription  is  shown  said  to  have  been  engraved  by  St.  Peter 
himself,  also  the  font  at  which  he  baptized  !     (See  Fig.  131.) 

*  It  will   be  observed  that  in  this  chamber   the  Good  Shepherd 


A 


' 


W  i 


h 


}  ! 

t    ! 


•! 


i 


340 


T/ie  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


as  shown  in  the  preceding  engraving  of  a  chamber  in  the 
Catacomb  of  St.  Agnes.     See  also  Figs.  82  and  89. 

Sometimes  the  paintings  of  a  chamber  are  as  closely 
related  as  the  parts  of  a  chapter  in  systematic  theology. 
Thus  on  account  of  their  common  reference,  as  he  con- 
ce'ves,  to  the  sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  eucharist, 
De  Rossi  designates  as  liturgical  paintings  certain  pic- 
tures in  the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus.*  An  allegorizing 
spirit,  however,  will  often  discover  a  meaning  in  a  fresco 
or  relief  altogether  unthought  of  by  the  original  artist. 
Thus  Dr.  Northcote  interprets  as  personifications  of  the 
church  or  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  certain  praying  figures 
nowise  differing  from  the  ordinary  oranti. 

The  sarcophagi  are  almost  exclusively  occupied  with 
scenes  from  the  biblical  cycle,  generally  arranged  in 
two  rows  in  a  continuous  series,  like  the  figures  on  the 
frieze  of  a  Grecian  temple.  Frequently  ten  or  twelve 
groups,  embracing  nearly  forty  figures,  are  found  on  the 
side  of  a  sarcophagus.  Sometimes  the  separate  groups 
occupy  a  rhythmical  arrangement  of  panel-like  com- 
partments, divided  by  columns  of  more  or  less  orna- 
mental character.  (See  Figs.  102,  103,  and  104.)  The 
busts  of  the  deceased  persons,  man  and  wife,  are  often 
exhibited  in  bold  relief  in  a  concave  recess  in  the  centre, 
like  the  half  of  a  bivalve  shell.  The  table  in  the  foot- 
note on  the  following  page  exhibits  the  relative  frequency 
of  occurrence  of  the  different  subjects  already  described, 
as    observed    in   fifty-five   sarcophagi   in   the    Lateran 

occupies  the  position  of  prominence  and  dignity  in  the  compartment 
over  the  anosolium,  balanced  by  Daniel  in  the  lions'  den  and  the 
three  Hebrews  in  the  furnace.  On  the  left  hand  is  a  shelf  for 
lamps,  magnified  in  Romish  imagination  into  a  credence  table  for 
supporting  the  elements  of  the  eucharist.  In  the  ceiling  are  oranti 
and  Iambs. 
*  Horn.  Soif.,  p.  268. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


341 


Museum  by  Mr.  Burgon,  and  as  shown  in  forty-eight 
examples  copied  by  Bosio.* 

The  massiveness  of  the  sarcophagi  would  during  the 
ages  of  persecution  prevent  their  use  even  for  the  wealthy, 
as  their  preparation  and  conveyance  from  the  city  would 
involve  an  amount  of  publicity  that  would  imperil  the 
safety  of  the  living.  After  the  time  of  Constantine  the 
increased  riches  and  perfect  immunity  of  the  Chris- 
tians permitted  the  adoption  of  this  costly  entombment. 
The  sarcophagi  were  no  longer  hidden  in  the  subter- 
ranean crypts,  but  were  exposed  to  view  in  the  vestibules 
of  the  stately  basilicas  erected  above  ground. f 

Hence,  Chrysostom  speaks  of  Constantine  being 
buried  in  the  fisherman's  porch,t  and  of  emperors  oc- 
cupying the  place  of  porters  at  the  graves  of  the 
apostles.     Numerous  sarcophagi,   however,  have  been 


*                                        Burgon.  Bosio. 

History  of  Jonas 28  11 

The  Smitten  Keck 21  16 

Apprehension  of  Peter 20  14 

Miracle  of  the  Loaves 20  14 

Giving  Si^ht  to  the  Blind    ...  19  11 

Change  of  Water  into  Wine..  16  8 

liaising  of  Lazarus 16  14 

Pet«»r'8  Denial 14  8 

Daniel  in  the  Lions'  Den 14  T 

Paralytic  Healed 12  7 

Creation  of  Eve 11  2 

Sacrifice  of  Isaac 11  9 

Adoration  of  the  Magi 11  S 


Burgon.  Bosio. 

Fail  of  Adam  and  Eve 14  10 

Woman  with  Issue  of  Blood . .  8  9 

Christ's  Entry  into  Jerusalem  0  S 

The  Good  Shepherd 6  9 

Nonh  in  the  Aric fi  6 

Christ  before  Pilate 6  6 

Giving  of  the  Law 4  6 

The  Three  Hebrew  Children..  4  8 

MoHcs  Taking  Off  bis  Shoes  . .  2  8 

Elias  Taken  Up  to  Heaven...  2  8 

Nativity,  with  Ox  and  Ass. ...  I  4 

Christ  Crowned  with  Thorns .  1  1 


It  will  be  seen  that  there  is  only  one  example  of  Christ  crowned 
with  thorns,  and  in  that  the  harshness  is  removed  by  the  substitution 
of  a  garland  of  flowers.  How  different  from  modem  Roman  Catho- 
lic art,  in  which  the  scenes  of  the  passion  are  endlessly  repeated  ! 
In  pagan  sarcophagi  we  find,  instead  of  these  sacred  themes,  crowded 
battle-pieces,  with  processions  of  warriors,  chariots,  horses,  maskers, 
mythological  groups,  vintage  scenes,  etc.  See  the  sarcophagi  of  the 
Empress  Helena  and  of  Constantia  in  the  Vatican  Museum,  and 
before  described. 

f  In  ecclesia  nuUatenus  sepeliantur,  sed  in  atrio,  aut  porticu,  aut  in 
exedris  ecclesiae. — Council  of  Nantes^c&w.  6. 

:f  Chrys.,  Hom,  26,  in  2  Cor. 


342 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


found  in  the  Catacombs,  some  even  reputed  to  be  of 
the  first  century.  These  were  generally  of  simpler  de- 
sign, and  adorned  only  with  the  series  of  doubly  curving 
lines  known  as  wave  ornaments.  They  were  frequently 
buried  in  the  floor  of  the  cubicula* 

The  reader,  in  examining  the  foregoing  representa- 
tions of  the  person  of  Our  Lord,t  must  have  been  struck 
with  their  remarkably  youthful  and  joyous  character  in 
this  primitive  cycle,  as  contrasted  with  the  older  aspect 
and  more  severe  expression  of  the  prevalent  types  of 
later  art.  This  difference  is  indicative  of  a  correspond- 
ing change  of  religious  feeling,  from  the  genial  cheer- 
fulness of  the  early  centuries  to  the  gloomy  asceticism 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  art  of  the  Catacombs  Our 
Lord  is  represented,  for  the  most  part,  in  an  ideal  man- 
ner, and  not  in  an  historical  sense ;  or,  to  use  the  lan- 
guage of  Lord  Lindsay,  "  as  an  abstraction,  as  the 
genius,  so  to  speak,  of  Christianity."  J  He  is  almost 
invariably  exhibited  as  a  youthful,  beardless  figure,  to 
signify — say  the  ancient  writers — "  the  everlasting  prime 
of  eternity ;  "  with,  where  any  definite  expression  is  at- 
tempted, a  countenance  of  sv/eet  and  tender  grace,  full 
of  mildness  and  benignity. 

That  there  was  in  these  primitive  types  no  attempt  at 
realistic  portraiture  is  evident  from  the  opinion  of  many 

*  Numerous  Christian  sarcophagi  have  also  been  found  at  Aries, 
Saragossa,  Ravenna,  Milan,  and  elsewhere. 

The  name  sarcophagus,  yf^j-^-^a/m^,  from  (Ttipf  and  ^dyu,  it  is  well 
known,  was  derived  from  the  supposed  quality  of  the  Lapis  Assius, 
a  stone  of  Assos  in  Asia  Minor  of  which  tliey  were  originally 
made,  of  corroding  and  consuming  dead  bodi&i,  as  ascribed  to  it  by 
Theophrastus  and  Pliny. 

fSee  especially  Figs.  47,  48,  63,  91,  gsi,  96,  97,  and  postea 
106. 

\  Christian  Art,  vol.  i,  p.  42.  . 


:m&^ 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


343 


of  the  early  Fathers  as  to  the  personal  appearance  of 
Our  Lord.  This  opinion  was  founded  upon  an  erro- 
neous interpretation  of  certain  passages  of  Scripture, 
expressive  of  Christ's  voluntary  humiliation  and  abase- 
ment. Thus  Justin  Martyr  speaks  of  his  appearance 
as  ignoble  and  uncomely.*  Tertullian,  with  his  usual 
vehemence,  asserts  Christ  to  have  been  devoid,  not 
only  of  divine  majesty,  but  even  of  human  beauty, f  to 
have  lacked  grace  and  dignity  beyond  all  men.  J  "  But 
however  mean  his  aspect,  however  vulgar  and  dishon- 
oured," he  exclaims, "  he  shall  be  still  my  Christ  whom  I 
adore."  §  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Origen,  and  Basil  agree 
in  this  opinion  as  to  the  outward  appearance  of  Our 
Lord;  and  Cyril  of  Alexandria  audaciously  declares  that 
he  was  the  most  ugly  of  the  sons  of  men.|| 

But  a  juster  interpretation  of  Scripture,  and  a  more 
worthy  conception  of  the  person  of  Christ,  at  length 
prevailed.  The  glowing  imagery  of  the  Song  of  Songs 
and  of  the  prophetic  Psalms  was  applied  by  several  of 
the  Fathers  of  the  fourth  century  to  the  person,  as  well  as 
to  the  character,  of  Our  Lord.  Jerome  conjectures  that 
there  must  have  been  something  celestial  in  his  counte- 
nance and  look,  or  the  apostles  would  not  immediately 
have  followed  him  ;**  and  that  the  effulgence  and  majesty 

♦Tdv  atiii)  KfCi  ari^tov  ^avivra. — Dla/.  cum  Tryph.,  85. 

f  Adeo  nee  humanse  honestatis  corpus  fuit,  nedum  coelestis  elar- 
itatis. — Dt  Carn.  Christi.,  c.  9. 

\  Sed  species  ejus  inhonorata,  deficiens  ultra  omnes  homines. — 
Contra  Marc,  iii,  17. 

§  Si  inglorius,  si  ignobilis,  si  inhonorabilis  ;  meus  erit  Christus.— 
Ibid. 

I  'AXXa  TO  eldog  avTov  irifiov  iK^Lnov  napa  Trdvrof  rovf  vlov(  tuv 
&vdpuTruv. — De  Nudatione  Noe.,  lib.  ii,  vol.  i,  p.  13. 

*  *  Nisi  enim  habuisset  et  in  vultu  quiddam  et  in  oculis  sidereum, 
nunquam  eum  statim  secuti  fuissent  npostoli. — Epis.  ad  Princip. 
Virginem, 


I 

I 


344 


The  Catacombs  ^f  Rome. 


of  the  divinity  within,  which  i>l.  jne  forth  even  in  the 
human  countenance,  could  not  but  attract  at  first  sight  all 
beholders.*  Chrysostom  and  Gregory  of  Nyssa  in  the 
East  adopted  this  nobler  conception,  as  also  did  Am- 
brose and  Augustine  in  the  West.  The  latter  exclaims, 
*'  He  was  beautiful  on  his  mother's  bosom,  beautiful  in 
the  arms  of  his  parents,  beautiful  upon  the  cross,  and 
beautiful  in  the  sepulchre ;  "  although  he  admits  that 
the  countenance  of  Christ  was  entirely  unknown,  and 
was  painted  with  innumerable  diversities  of  expression,  f 
There  was  therefore,  as  M.  Rochette  remarks,}  and 
as  Dr.  Northcote  admits,§  no  authentic  portrait  of 
Christ  recognized  by  the  early  church ;  nor  was  any 
strictly  uniform  type  adopted.  Eusebius,  indeed,  men- 
tions reputed  portraits  of  Our  Lord  associated  with  those 
of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul ;  |  but  they  were  apparently 
objects  of  mere  local  superstition,  as  was  also  the 
alleged  statue  of  Christ  at  Caesarea  Philippi,  in  which 
he  was  supposed  to  be  represented  as  healing  the 
woman  with  the  issue  of  blood.**    The  earliest  acknowl- 

*  Certe  fulgor  ipsa  et  majestas  dmnitatis  occultae,  quae  etiam  in 
humanil  facie  relucebat,  ex  primo  ad  se  venientes  trahere  poterat  as- 
pectu. — Hieronym.  in  Matth..  ix,  g. 

f  Qua  fuerit  ille  facie  nos  penitus  ignoramus  :  nam  et  ipsius  Domin- 
ic£e  facies  camis  innumerabilium  cogitationum  diversitate  variatur 
et  fingitur,  quae  tamen  una  erat,  quaecunque  erat. — De  Trin.,  lib. 
vii,  c.  4,  5. 

X  Tableau  des  Catacombes,  p.  164.  %Rom.  Sott.,  p.  252. 

\  Hist.  Eccl.y  vii,  18. ,  From  this  frequent  association  St.  Paul  as 
well  as  St.  Peter  was  frequently  regarded  as  being  both  among  the 
original  disciples.  "  Justly  do  they  deserve  to  err,"  says  Augustine, 
speaking  of  this  mistake, "  who  seek  Cluist  and  his  apostles,  not  in  the 
holy  volumes,  but  on  painted  walls." — De  Consens^  Evang.^  lib,  i.fx. 

*  ♦  This  statue ,  it  has  been  suggested,  probably  represente(^  ^he  phi- 
losopher Apollonius  or  the  Emperor  Vespasian,  and  the  suppliant 
female  figure  a  personified  city  or  province.     Gibbon  thinks  it  in^- 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


345 


edged  images  of  Christ  were  attributed  to  the  Gnostic 
heretics,  and  were  honoured  with  those  of  Homer,  Py- 
thagoras, Orpheus,  and  other  heroes  and  sages  by  the 
eclectic  philosophers  of  Rome.* 

The  silence  of  early  tradition,as  well  as  of  Scripture, 
concerning  the  outward  form  of  the  Saviour  of  man- 
kind, seems  providentially  designed  to  turn  the  mind 
from  a  sensuous  regard  for  his  person  to  a  spiritual  ap- 
prehension of  his  saving  grace.  The  spurious  epist' 
of  Publius  Lentulus,  an  imaginary  contemporary  of 
Christ,  which  is  of  uncertain  and  probably  late  date, 
contains  the  first  written  portraiture  of  Our  Lord,  which 
already  indicates  a  departure  from  the  generally  youth- 
ful type  of  the  Catacombs.  "  His  countenarice,"  says 
this  account,  "  is  severe  and  expressive,  so  as  to  inspire 
beholders  at  once  with  love  and  fear.  ...  In  reproving 
or  censuring,  he  is  awe-inspiring;  in  exhoriing  and 
teaching,  his  speech  is  gentle  and  caressing.  His  ex- 
pression is  of  wonderful  sweetness  and  gravity.  No 
one  ever  saw  him  laugh,  though  he  has  been  often  seen 
to  weep."  f 

possible  that  it  could  be  intended  for  the  poor  woman  mentioned  in 
the  gospel.  Eusebius  mentions  the  belief  as  a  mere  popular  tradi> 
tion.  *•  They  say  that  this  statue  bears  the  likeness  of  Jesus" — 
TovTov  St  Tov  &vdpidvTa  etxova  rdi'lrjaov  <^epeiv  i}.eyov. — Mis/.  Eccl.^ 
viii,  1 8. 

*Iren.,rt</r. /f(rrr^j.,i,  25.   Aug.,  Z?^/^<?r/j«^.,c.  viii.   The  Emperor 
Alex.  Severus,  we  have  seen,  had  one  of  these  images  of  Christ  in  his 
Lararium,  with  those  of  Abraham  and  Orpheus. — MX.  Lamprid.  in 
Vit.Alex.  Sev.,  c.  29. 

f  Conspectus  vultus  ejus  cum  severitate  et  plenus  efficacia,  ut  specta- 
tores  amare  eum  possint  et  rursus  timere.  ...  In  reprehendendo  et , 
objui^ando  formidabilis  ;  in  docendo  et  exhortando  blandse  linguae  et 
amabilis.  Gratia  miranda  vultus  cum  gravitate.  Vel  serael  eum 
ridentem  nemo  vidit  sed  flentem  imo. — Fabricius,  Codex.  Apoc, 
Nov.  Teste.,  le.,  pars.  301. 


i! 


346 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


fi 


The  oldest  extant  picture  of  the  head  of  Christ 
treated  separately  is  a  profile  brouj^ht  from  the  Catacomb 
of  Callixtus,  now  in  the  Christian  Museum  of  the  V^atican, 
and  figured  in  the  engraving  on  the  following  page.  It 
is  in  imitation  of  mosaic,  about  life-size,  and  of  a  dif- 

Pere  Mahillon  teltsus  that  one  of  Christ's  tears  has  been  preserved 
and  peculiarly  honoured  at  Vend6me. 

John  Daniascenus,  in  the  eighth  century,  records  the  legend  of  a 
miraculous  contemporary  portrait  of  Christ  which  healed  Agbarus, 
King  of  Edessa,  of  a  mortal  disease.  It  was  till  recently  honoured 
in  the  church  of  St.  Silvester  at  Rome. 

The  miraculous  image  known  as  the  Veronica  is  claimed  to  be 
the  actual  impression  of  the  Saviour's  features  made  on  the  veil  or 
handkerchief  of  a  tlevout  Jewess,  who  piously  wiped  his  brow  as  he 
toiled  along  the  way  to  Calvary.  This  image  she  brought  to  Rome, 
where  it  cured  Tiberius  Caesar  of  the  leprosy,  and  was  afterwards 
presented  to  the  Emperor  Charlemagne.  It  is  now  publicly 
worshipped  in  St.  Peter's  with  the  utmost  devotion  and  splendor. 
The  name  is  probably  derived  from  the  label  vera  icon  or  icona — a 
true  image — commonly  attached  to  pictures  of  Our  Lord.  It  was 
also  given  to  the  pious  Jewess,  who  is  identified  as  the  niece  of 
Herod.  A  colossal  statue  of  St.  Veronica  adorns  St.  Peter's  fane, 
and  the  event  is  celebrated  in  sacred  art  and  pious  verse.  The  fol- 
lowing, from  a  MS.  in  St.  George's  Library,  Windsor,  is  a  favourable 
specimen  of  the  latter : 

Salve,  Sancta  iacies 
Mei  Redemptoris, 
In  qua  nitet  species 
Divini  splendoris. 
Impressa  panniculo 
Nivei  candoris, 
Dataque  Veronicae, 
Signum  ob  Amoris. 

Of  equally  apocryphal  character  are  the  Volto  Santo,  exhibited 
during  Holy  Week  at  St.  Peter's,  and  the  portraits  attributed  to 
Nicodemus,  Pilate,  St.  Luke,  or  to  celestial  artists.  One  of  the 
Achciropoietes,  or  pictures  made  without  hands,  almost  blackened 
with  age,  and  of  the  Hyzantine  type,  is  thrice  a  year  exhibited  at  the 
Lateran  palace  at  Rome. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


l'\7 


«! 


ferent  type  from  the  figure  of  Our  Lord  in  composition 
in  the  frescoes  and  sculptures  of  the  Catacombs.  He 
is  portrayed  as  of  adult  age,  his  calm,  smooth  brow 
shaded  by  long  brown  hair  which  is  parted  in  the  middle 
and  falls  in  masses  on  the  shoulders.  The  eyes  are 
large  and  thoughtful,  the  nose  long  and  narrow,  the 
beard  soft  and  flowing,  and  the  general  expression  of 
countenance  serene  and  mild.  This  became  the 
hieratic  type  of  many  of  the  noblest  pictures  of  later 
Italian  art,  and,  according  to  the  Abbe  Brivati,  inspired 
the  genius  of  Da  Vinci,  Raphael,  and  Caracci. 

In  the  Catacomb  oi' 
Sts.  Nereusand  Achil- 
les the  head  and  bust 
of  Christ  form  a  me- 
dallion in  the  centre 
of  a  vaulted  ceiling. 
The  face  is  of  a  noble 
and  dignified  expres- 
sion, mingled  with  be- 
nevolence ;  but  it  is 
older  in  aspect,  and 
probably  of  consider- 
ably later  date,  than 
that  here  given. 
K  u  g  1  e  r  ,  however,  pijf.  i06.-The  Oldest  Extant  Picture 
claims  for  it  priority  °'  O^*"  ^°^^- 

of  origin.  Both  of  these  were  probably  of  the  latter 
part  of  the  fourth  century,  and  were  executed  not  by 
the  Christians  of  the  purest  ages  of  the  church,  but  by 
those  who  had  begun  to  walk  by  sight  and  not  by  faith. 
The  primitive  Christians,  we  have  seen,  had  no  pro- 
fessed portraits  of  Christ,  but  only  allegorical  represen- 
tations of  the  Good  Shepherd,  or  a  youthful  figure  re- 


A 


w 


K    M 


sill 


348 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I  ^ 


f 


i 


I 


ii 


■  ! 


I 


garded  as  the  abstractions  or  genius  of  Christianity. 
"  We  must  not,"  says  a  Father  of  the  second  century, 
"  cling  to  the  sensuous,  but  rise  to  the  spiritual.  The 
familiarity  of  daily  sight  lowers  the  dignity  of  the  divine, 
and  to  pretend  to  worship  a  spiritual  essence  through 
earthly  matter  is  to  degrade  that  essence  to  the  world 
of  sense."* 

On  a  terra  cotta  medallion,  found  not  in  the  Cata- 
combs themselves,  but  in  the  rubbish  near  the  moutL 
of  the  cemetery  of  St.  Agnes,  is  a  head  of  Our  Lord 
of  the  same  general  type  as  Fig.  io6,  but  of  much 
superior  execution.  The  face  is  of  exquisite  beauty, 
and  is  characterized  by  a  sweet  and  tender  grace  of 
expression.  But  with  the  decline  of  art  and  the  cor- 
ruption of  Christianity  chis  beaut  ful  type  disappeared, 
and  a  more  austere  and  solemn  aspect  was  given  to 
pictures  of  Christ.  Although  the  technical  means 
of  execution  were  diminished,  and  the  rendering  of 
form  became  more  and  more  incorrect,  yet  for  pow- 
erful effect,  strength  of  charac»^er,  and  depth  of  feeling, 
Christian  an  exhibited  resources  beyond  any  thing  to 
be  found  in  the  Catacombs.  It  burst  the  narrow 
limits  in  which  it  was  there  confined,  and  found  ample 
scope  in  the  frescoes  and  mosaics  of  the  stately  basilicas 
which  were  everywhere  rising.  In  those  vast  and 
shadowy  interiors  the  principal  figure  wis  that  of  Christ, 
surrounded  by  saints  and  angels,  looking  down  upon 
the  worshippers  with  awe-inspiring  power,  holding  in 
his  left  hand  the  book  of  life,  and  raising  his  right  in 
solemn  menace  or  warning. 

rhe  first  example  of  the  art-presentation  of  Christ 
under  this  stern  and  sullen  aspect,  according  to  that 

♦Clem.  Alex.,  5'/r(p»/.,  V. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


349 


accomplished  critic,  Mr.  Hemans,  is  a  large  mosaic  com- 
position of  the  fifth  century  in  the  Ostian  basilica  of 
St.  Paul.  The  colossal  figure  of  the  Saviour  dominates 
over  every  other  object,  with  an  effect  at  once  startling 
and  repulsive.  "  Nor  can  we  help,"  says  Mr.  Hemans, 
"  seeing  in  this  strangely  unworthy  conception  the  evi- 
dence of  deterioration  in  the  religious  ideal,  even  more 
than  of  decline  in  the  technical  treatment  peculiar  to 
the  age."  *  Of  this  character  is  the  head  of  Our  Lord 
in  the  crypt  of  St.  Cecilia.  The  expression  is  grave, 
the  eyes  large  and  solemn  ;  the  book  of  the  gospels  is  in 
his  hand,  and  his  head  is  surrounded  by  a  nimbus  in  the 
form  of  a  Greek  cross. 

This  type  became  more  and  more  rigid  and  austere 
as  the  gathering  shadows  of  the  Dark  Ages  mantled  on 
the  minds  of  men.  The  gloomy  asceticism  of  the  mo- 
nastic orders  also  left  its  impress  on  the  art  of  the 
period,  especially  in  the  East,  where  the  Basilian  monks 
too  faithfully  illustrated  the  stern,  austere  judgments  of 
their  founder  concerning  the  person  of  Christ.  The 
rudeness  of  execution  of  this  Byzantine  school  was  only 

*  Sacred  Art  in  Italy,  p.  212.  The  Mosaics  of  this  centmy  in  the 
adoration  of  the  Magi  at  S.  Maria  Maggiore,  before  mentioned,  is 
the  earliest  example  of  the  appearance  in  art  of  the  figures  of  angels, 
those  sublime  creations  that  glorify  the  canvas  of  the  artists  of  the 
Renaissance.  The  winged  genii  in  the  Catacombs  are  rather  an  imi- 
tation of  classic  types  than  of  a  Christian  significance. 

The  symbols  of  the  four  evangelists — the  angel,  lion,  ox,  and 
eagle — are  unknown  in  the  Catacombs,  and  first  appear  in  the  fourth 
century.  Sometimes  these  symbols  have  reference  to  the  four  historic 
aspects  of  redemption  through  Christ — the  Incarnation,  Passion,  Res- 
urrection,  and  Ascension,  as  explained  in  the  following  monkish 
rhy.ne  : 

Quatuor  haec  Dominum  signant  animalia  Christum  : 
Est  homo  nascendo,  Vitulusque  sacer  moriendo, 
Et  Leo  surgendo,  coelos  Aquilaque  petendo. 


350 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


equalled  by  the  meanness  of  conception  of  the  harsh, 
stiff  and  blackened  portraits  of  Our  Lord,  in  which  he 
was  exhibited  as  emphatically  "a  man  of  sorrcivs  and 
acquainted  with  grief." 

Toward  the  close  of  the  tenth  century  art  sank  into 
its  deepest  degradation  as  the  long  night  of  the  Dark 
Ages  reached  its  densest  gloom.  The  year  one  thou- 
sand was  regarded  in  popular  apprehension  as  the  date 
of  the  end  of  time,  and  of  the  final  conflagration  of  the 
world  so  intensely  realized  in  the  sublime  hymn, 

Dies  irae,  dies  ilia, 
Solvet  sseclum  in  favilla. 


\ 


The  excited  imagination  of  mankind,  brooding  upon  the 
approaching  terrors  of  the  Last  Day,  found  expression 
in  the  sombre  character  of  the  art  of  the  period.  The 
tender  grace  of  the  Good  Shepherd  of  the  Catacombs 
gave  place  to  4he  stern  inexorable  Judge,  blasting  the 
wicked  with  a  glance  and  treading  down  the  nations  in 
his  fury.  Christ  was  no  longer  the  Divine  Orpheus, 
charming  with  the  music  of  his  lyre  the  souls  of  men, 
and  breathing  peace  and  benediction  from  his  lips,  but 
the  "  Rex  tremendae  majestatis,"  a  dread  Avenger 
striking  the  imagination  with  awe,  and  awakening  alarm 
and  remorse  in  the  soul.  All  the  stern  denunci- 
ations of  the  Hebrew  prophets  and  the  weird  imagery 
of  the  Apocalypse  found  intensely  realistic  treatment  in 
art.  Christ  smites  the  earth  with  a  curse,  and  consumes 
the  wicked  like  stubble.  "  A  fire  goeth  before  him,  and 
burneth  up  his  enemies  round  about."  *  The  great  white 
throne  is  set,  and  from  beneath  it  a  flame  bursts  forth 
devouring  the  guilty   objects  of  his  wrath.     Like   an 

*  Psa.  xcvii,  3. 


Ttu  Biblical  Cycle. 


351 


angry  Jove,*  he  hurls  the  thunderbolts  of  his  fury  and 
blasts  with  the  lightning  of  his  power.  The  angels 
tremble  in  terror  at  his  frown,  and  even  the  intercession 
of  the  Virgin  Mother  avails  not  to  mitigate  the  dread 
displeasure  of  her  Divir^*  Son.  Down  to  the  period 
of  tiie  Renaissance  the  tragic  scenes  of  the  last  judg- 
ment continue  to  be  favourite  su»^;ccts  of  art  treatment,  ' 
and  exhibit  some  of  its  most  remc^rkable  achievements ; 
but  not  all  the  genius  of  Orcagna  cr  of  Michael  Angelo 
can  reconcile  our  minds  to  the  ravage  sternness  and 
ferocity  of  the  frescoes  of  the  Car.^po  Santo  and  the 
Sistine  Chapel. 

Christ  is  also  frequently  depicted  in  Mediaeval  art 
with  his  staff  and  scrip,  his  "  scallop  hat  and  shoon," 
setting  out  upon  his  weary,  mortal  pilgrimage ;  re- 
turning to  heaven  as  a  toil-worn  man  leaning  heavily 
upon  his  staff,  f  or  showing  to  the  Father  sitting  on 
his  throne  his  wounded  hands  and  side.  He  is  also 
seen,  as  in  the  sublime  vision  of  St.  John,  riding  in 

*  In  the   austere  drama  of  Dante  Christ  receives  the   title  of 

Sovereign  Jove : 

O  summo  Giove, 

Che  fosti  'n  terra  per  noi  crocifisso. — Purgat.,  canto  vi. 

In  Mediaeval  art  Christ  is  frequently  modeled  after  the  pagan  yupiter 
Tonans. 

f  In  some  quaint  French  verses  accompanying  one  of  these  pictures 
Our  Lord,  in  giving  an  account  of  his  journey,  in  characteristic  ac- 
cord with  the  erroneous  theology  of  the  times,  is  made  to  intimate 
that  he  would  fain  have  avoided  the  unwelcome  task  : 

"  P^re,"  dist  Jhesus,  '*  retourne 
Suis  a  toy,  et  ai  consumm^ 
Ce  que  faire  me  commandos 
Quant  jusou  monde  m'envoyas, 
Dont  bien  Je  m' en  feusse  passe." 

— Romant  des  Trois  Pelerinages,  \.  D.  1358. 


I'il 


I 


352 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


•1 

^  '  1 

i 

JlJ 

majesty  on  his  white  horse,  accompanied  by  the  armies 
of  the  sky ;  as  trampling  beneath  his  feet  the  lion  and 
dragon,  and  as  chaining  death  and  hell.  In  Greek  art, 
especially,  he  is  exhibited  as  a  throned  archbishop,  ar- 
rayed in  gorgeous  vestments,  receiving  the  homage 
of  saints  and  angels,  or  offering  the  sacrifice  of  the 
mass  as  the  great  High  Priest  entered  into  the  holiest 
of  all. 

One  of  the  most  striking  contrasts  between  the  art 
of  the  Catacombs  and  that  of  later  times  is  the  entire 
absence  in  the  former  of  those  gross  anthropomorphic 
images  of  the  persons  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  either  to- 
gether or  separately — except  Our  Lord  under  his  prop- 
er human  form — of  which  the  latter,  in  striking  offence 
against  piety  and  good  taste,  exhibits  so  many  painful 
examples.  In  the  earlier  ages  a  solemn  reverence  for- 
bade the  attempt  to  depict  the  Eternal  Father  or  the 
Holy  Spirit  except  by  means  of  symbolical  types.  The 
universal  testimony  of  Christian  antiquity  is  opposed  to 
this  practice  so  common  in  Mediaeval  art.  Origen,  Am- 
brose, and  Augustine  unite  in  prohibiting  the  represen- 
tation of  the  Deity  by  any  material  object.  The  latter 
declares  it  to  be  impious  for  any  Christian  to  set  up  such 
an  image  in  the  church,  and  much  more  to  do  it  in  his 
heart,*  or  to  conceive  it  possible  that  the  Divine  Being 
may  be  circumscribed  by  the  limits  of  the  human  frame. f 
Paulinus  of  Nola,  in  his  account  of  the  symbolism  of 
the  Holy  Trinity  in  the  church  of  St.  Felix,  describes 
Christ  as  represented  by  a  Iamb,  the  Holy  Spirit  by  a 

♦Tale  simulacrum  nefas  est  Christiano  in  templo  collocare, 
multo  magis  is  corde  nefarium  est. — De  Fide  et  Symbolo,  c.  7. 

f  Nefas  habent  docti  ejus  (ecclesi^e  Catholicae)  credere  Deum 
figunX  humani  corporis  terminatum. — Confess.^  vi,  II.  See  also  Orig., 
Conl.  Cels.,  6,  and  Ambr.  in  Psa.  cxviii. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


353 


dove,  but  for  the  Father  nothing  but  a  voice  from 
heaven.*  Gregory  II.,  the  champion  of  image-worship, 
denies  that  it  is  lawful  to  make  any  representation  of  the 
Divine  nature,  but  only  of  Our  Lord,  his  mother,  and 
the  saints. f  Such  figures  were  also  condemned  by  the 
second  Council  of  Nice.  J  John  Damascenus,  a  zealous 
defender  of  the  images  of  Christ  and  the  saints,  yet 
declares  it  is  as  great  impiety  as  it  is  folly  to  make  any 
image  of  the  Divine  nature,  which  is  incorporeal,  invisi- 
ble, without  material  or  form,  incomprehensible,  not  to  be 
circumscribed,  noi  to  be  figured  by  the  art  of  man.§ 
Urban  VIII.  ordered  all  representations  of  the  Trinity  to 
be  burnt,  and  Benedict  XIV.  forbade  the  depicting  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  in  human  form.  Dupin  asserts  that  the 
most  zealous  defenders  of  images  have  condemned 
these ;  ||  and  the  learned  and  judicious  Bingham  de- 
clares that  "  in  all  ancient  history  we  never  meet  with 
any  one  instance  of  picturing  God  the  Father,  because 
it  was  supposed  that  he  never  appeared  in  any  visible 
shape, but  only  by  a  voice  from  heaven."** 

Some  recent  Roman  Catholic  writers,  however,  assert 

*  Pleno  coruscat  Trinitas  mysterio ; 
Stat  Christus  in  agno ;  vox  Patris  coelo  tonat ; 
£t  per  columbam  Spiritus  Sanctus  fluit. 
See  a  valuable  note  on  the  doctrine  of  a  Trinity  in  Classic  and 
Hindoo  mythology  in  Whedon's  Commentary,  vol.  ii,  p.  77. 

f  Greg.  XL,  Ep.  I,  ad  Leon.  if  Act  4.  Concil.  Nicen.,  2. 

§  IlapaijtffoavvTir  uKpag  Kal  aaefSeia^  to  oxv/^^i^'^iv  to  Oeiov.  k.  t.  A. 
— Dg  Fide  Orthodox,  liv.  c.  17. 

Dei  qui  est  incorporeus,  invisibilis,  a  materia  remotissimus,  figurtC 
expers,  incircumscriptus,  et  incomprehensibilis,  imago  nulla  fieri 
potest.  ...  In  errore  quidem  versaremur  .  .  .  impie  rursum  ager- 
emus.  ...  si  vel  invisibilis  Dei  conficeremus  imaginem. — Orat.  i  et 
2  de  Imaginibus. 

\  Les  defenseurs  les  plus  zeles  des  images  ayant  condamn^  celles-ci : 
/.  ^.,  de  la  Trinit6  ou  de  la  Divinit6. — Dupin :  Bibli.  EccUs.,  t.  vi,  p.  154. 
**  Orig.  Eccles.,  bk.  vi,  chap,  viii,  §  10. 

23 


t<  f 


A 


i 


'  > 


l! 


3S4 


77ie  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


the  contrary  of  this  to  be  the  case,  and  refer  for  proof 
of  the  assertion  to  one  or  two  sarcophagal  bas  reliefs 
of  the  fourth  or  fifth  century.  One  of  these  represents 
Cain  and  Abel  bringing  their  gifts  to  an  aged  and 
bearded  figure  sitting  on  a  stone,  who  is  interpreted  by 
the  Romanists  as  the  Omnipotent  Jehovah.  But  that 
distinguished  archaeologist,  Raoul  Rochette,  himself  a 
Romanist, opposes  this  view.  "I  doubt,"  he  says,  "the 
reality  of  this  explanation,  contrary  to  all  that  we  know 
of  the  Christian  monuments  of  the  first  ages,  where  the 
intervention  of  the  Eternal  Father  is  only  indicated  in 
the  abridged  and  symbolic  manner  proper  to  antiquity, 
by  the  image  of  a  hand." 

The  other  alleged  sculpture  of  the  Godhead  requires 
more  careful  examination.  "  The  Holy  Trinity,"  says 
Dr.  Northcote,  "  is  nowhere  represented,  as  far  as  I 
know,  in  the  paintings  of  the  Catacombs."*  But  he 
asserts  that  a  sculptured  example  occurs  on  a  sarcopha- 
gus of  the  fifth  century,  from  the  Ostian  basilica  of  St. 
Paul's,  now  in  the  Lateran  Museum.  The  group  re- 
ferred to  consists  of  three  bearded  figures  of  advanced 
age,  and  of  grave  and  strongly-marked  features.  One  of 
these,  whom  Dr.  Northcote  designates  "  the  Eternal 
Father,  the  source  and  fountain  of  Deity, "f  is  seated 
in  a  raised  chair  or  sort  of  throne.  Behind  the  chair 
stands  another  described  as  representing  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  in  front  of  it  the  third,  identified  as  the 
"  Eternal  Word."|  At  the  feet  of  the  latter  are  two 
diminutive  figures,  one  standing,  the  other  prostrate, 
said  to  represent  the  creation  of  Eve  from  the  side  of 
the  sleeping  Adam.  Padre  Garrucci,  who  has  published 
a  monograph  on   this    subject,   identifies   none  of  the 


*  Northcote's  Catacombs,  p,  ii6. 
f  Jiom.  Sott.,  p.  300. 


%  Ibid.,  301. 


11 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


355 


adult  figures  in  the  same  manner  as  Dr.  Northcote,  but 
describes  the  one  seated  as  the  Son,  the  one  behind 
him  as  the  Father,  and  the  third  as  the  Holy  Ghost.* 

We  can  accept  neither  of  these  explanations,  both  of 
which  are  so  strongly  opposed  to  the  entire  spirit  and 
character  of  early  Christian  art.  The  formulization  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  by  the  Council  of  Nice,  in 
that  noble  creed  which  still  expresses  the  faith  of  Chris- 
tendom, left,  it  is  true,  its  impress  on  Christian  art  and 
literature.  Both  in  pictorial  representation,  and,  as  we 
shall  hearafter  see,  in  inscriptions,  is  there  a  recorded 
protest  against  the  Arian  heresy  which  at  this  period 
convulsed  and  rent  the  church.  De  Rossi  cites  eight 
examples  in  early  Christian  art  which  he  conceives  to 
have  reference  to  this  doctrine ;  but  in  seven  of  these  it 
is  indicated  by  the  association  of  the  sacred  monogram 
with  the  triangle,  the  symbol  of  tri-unity,  and  the 
eighth  is  the  unique  and  anomalous  bas  relief  under 
discussion. 

We  have  seen  that  Christ  is  uniformly  exhibited  in 
this  primitive  art  as  youthful  and  beardless;  and  on 
this  very  sarcophagus,  side  by  side  with  this  so-called 
sculpture  of  the  Trinity,  he  is  thus  seen  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  Deity  giving  the  wheat-sheaf  to 
Adam  and  the  lamb  to  Eve.  Yet  we  are  asked  to  be- 
lieve that  in  the  very  next  group  he  is  shown,  in  defi- 
ance of  the  uniform  practice,  as  heavily  bearded  and  of 
advanced  age ;  and  that  the  Almighty  Father,  who  is 
substitutionally  represented'  by  the  Son  in  the  adjoining 
scene,  is  here  exhibited,  as  well  as  the  Eternai  Spirit,  in 
human  form.  Another  remarkable  discrepancy  also 
occurs.     The  so-called  figures  of  Adam  and  Eve  are  of 

*  Dif^ttrtazioni  Archeologiche  di  Raffaelle  Garrucci,  (Roma,  4to., 
1865,)  vol.ii,  p.  I. 


1 


.'i< 


m  I 


356 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I  . 


most  diminutive  size,  and  not  nearly  as  large  as  the  in- 
fant Christ  in  his  mother's  arms  in  the  scene  of  the 
adoration  of  the  Magi  immediately  below;*  and  of 
these  the  prostrate  figure  supposed  to  represent  the 
sleeping  Adam  is  considerably  the  smaller  of  the  two, 
and  of  the  i  tore  feminine  aspect.  This  incongruity  is 
the  m  s'j-'Ving  from  the  immediate  proximity  of  the 
adult  fi^  res  c*'  Adam  and  Eve,  to  which  the  smaller 
ones  bear  no  rcZv-mblance.  The  whole  group  seems  to 
correspond  better  to  Solomon's  celebrated  judgment 
concerning  the  living  and  the  dead  child  than  to  the 
creation  of  Eve. 

So  careful,  indeed,  were  the  early  Christian  artists  to 

avoid  any  representation  of 
"  the  King  eternal,  immortal, 
invisible,"  that  in  the  scenes 
where  God  spake  from  heav- 
en to  Abraham  and  to  Moses 
he  is  only  symbolically  in- 
dicated by  a  hand  stretched 
out  to  stay  the  knife  of  the 
patriarch,  or  surrounded  by 
clouds,  as  if  to  show  more 
strongly  its  figurative  char- 
acter, giving  the  tables  of 
the  law  to  the  leader  of  Is- 
rael. The  annexed  suggest- 
ive example  of  this  treat- 
Pi?.  107.-Ck)d  Symbolized  by  ^^^^  ^f  ^^ich  many  others 
a  Hand  appearlngr  to  Abra-  .  '  ,  ,  ,  ,  .  r 
ham.  might  be  adduced,  is  from  a 

sarcophagus  in  the  Lateran.     See  also  Fig.  71,  p.  290. 

*  Dr.  Northcote  describes  a  bearded  figure  standing  behind  the 
chair  of  Mary  as  a  representation  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Surely  the 
more  natural  interpretation  is  that  it  is  intended  for  Joseph. 


[S2H11I1IN."       «, 


IIIMHIIIV  .  If 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


357 


Throughout  the  whole  range  of  sacred  mosaics  at 
Rome  from  the  fourth  to  the  fourteenth  century,  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Hemans,  the  Supreme  Being  is  never  reprt 
sented  except  symbolically  by  means  of  a  hand,  usually 
holding  a  crown  over  the  head  of  Christ,  the  Virgin,  or 
the  saints.  In  later  art  the  hand  is  sometimes  sur- 
rounded by  a  cruciform  nimbus,  to  indicate  more  clearly 
its  divine  character.  It  is  also  seen  stretched  out  from 
heaven  in  pictures  of  Christ's  baptism  and  transfigura- 
tion, of  the  agony  in  the  garden,  the  passion,  and 
ascension.* 

It  was  long  before  the  most  ?nda...ous  hand  dared  to 
represent  in  painting  or  sculpture  the  omnipotent  Jehovah 
or  the  infinite  Spirit,  who  sustain  a:  d  pervade  the  universe. 
M.  Emeric  David  says  that  th  French  artists  of  the  ninth 
century  had  first  the  "  happy  boldness  "  —heureuse  har- 
diesse — to  depict  the  Eternal  Father  under  human  form.f 
M.  Didron  asserts  that  it  was  not  till  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury that  the  Divine  Being  was  personally  represented,}; 
being  previously  invariably  indicated  by  the  symbol  of 
a  hand,  or  by  the  divine  name  written  in  a  triangle  sur- 
rounded by  a  circle.  Previous  at  least  to  the  earlier  of 
these  dates,  the  work  of  creation  and  other  acts  popu- 
larly regarded  as  proper  to  the  Father  are  always  repre- 
sented as  performed  by  the   Son,  "who  is  the  image  of 

*  Ezekiel  speaks  of  the  manifestation  of  God  by  a  "  hand  sent 
unto  him."  Ezek.  ii,  9.  The  inspiration  of  Isaiah,  and  the  divine 
judgments  inflicted  on  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  are  thus  indicated. 
In  a  Greek  painting  at  Salamis,  executed  as  late  as  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  souls  of  the  righteous  in  a  state  of  beatitude  are  repre- 
sented by  five  infant  figures  held  in  a  gigantic  hand  projecting  from 
the  clouds. 

\  Discours  Sur  les  Anciens  Monumens,  pp.  43,  46.  The  instance 
he  refers  to  occurs  in  a  Latin  Bible  presented  to  Charles  the  Bold 
in  A.  D.  850.     The  interpretation,  however,  is  not  certain. 

\  Iconog.,  Chret.,  pp.  55,  205. 


1 


358 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


the  invisible  God,"  "by  whom  also  he  made  the 
worlds."*  Christ  is  also  painted  as  commanding  Noah 
to  build  the  ark,  as  conversing  with  Abraham,  and  as 
speaking  to  Moses  out  of  the  burning  bush.  He  is  fre- 
([uently  represented  also  in  the  gigantic  frescoes  of  the 
Byzantine  cupolas  clothed  with  awful  majesty  and  bear- 
ing the  title  O  nANTOKPATQP,  the  Almighty;  but  the 
addition  of  the  letters  ic  XC,  the  contraction  for  Jesus 
Christ,  assure  us  that  it  is  not  the  Father  but  the  Son 
who  is  meant. 

But  the  literal  conception  of  the  age  was  not  content 
with  a  symbolical  indication  of  the  Deity.  By  degrees 
the  arm  as  well  as  the  hand  was  portrayed,  and  art, 
gradually  grov^ing  bolder,  attempted  the  representation 
of  that  face  which  inspiration  declares  no  man  can  see 
and  live.  But  at  first  it  is  the  face  alone  that  is  shown. f 
Then,  with  progressive  daring,  the  bust  and  upper  part 
of  the  body  are  painted  as  reaching  forth  from  the 
clouds,  and  finally  the  entire  figure  appears  under  vari- 
ous aspects  and  in  different  characters.  The  Almighty 
is  represented  armed  with  sword  and  bow,  as  the  God 
of  battles ;  as  crowned,  like  a  king  or  emperor ;  J  and 
finally,  as  Pope,  wearing  the  pontifical  tiara  and  vest- 
ments. In  the  following  example  from  a  stained-glass 
window  of  the  sixteenth  century,  at  Troyes,  in  France, 
the  everlasting  Father,  throned  in  glory,  crowned  with 

*  In  a  Greek  painting  of  as  late  date  as  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth 
century,  Christ,  indicated  by  the  letters  ic  XC,  is  represented  as 
stretching  out  his  hand  over  a  prostrate  figure  labeled  AAAM  O  IIPQ. 
TOriAACTOC— "  Adam,  the  first-born," or  rather"  the  first-formed." 

\  In  one  of  these  a  winged  head  with  cruciform  nimbus,  surrounded 
by  a  chaos  of  stars  and  planets,  utters  the  word  FIAT,  and  the  earth 
with  its  inhabitants  are  called  into  being. 

%  In  France  the  Supreme  Being  was  generally  represented  as  King, 
in  Germany  as  Emperor,  and  in  Italy  as  Pope. 


The  Biblical  Cycle. 


359 


a  quir  tuple  tiara  and  robed  in  alb  and  tunic,  supports  a 
cross  on  which  hangs  the  lifeless  body  of  the  Divine 
Son. 


Fiff.  108.— God  the  Father  as  Pope. 

The  omnipotent  Jehovah  is  sometimes  portrayed  as 
"  the  Ancient  of  Days,"  under  the  form  of  a  feeble  old 
man  bowed  down  by  the  weight  of  years,  and  fain  to 
seek  support  by  leaning  heavily  on  a  staff,  or  reposing 
on  a  couch  after  the  labours  of  creation.*      Tiie  treat- 

*  As  in  an  example  at  the  Madeleine  at  Paris. 


in 


SOo 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


ment  becomes  more  and  more  rude,  even  to  the  borders 
of  the  grotesque,*  and  the  conception  becomes  mean, 
coarse,  and  vulgar,  till  all  the  Divine  departs  and  only 
human  feebleness  and  imbecility  remain,  indicating  at 
once  the  degradation  of  taste,  decline  of  piety,  and  cor- 
ruption of  doctrine. 

But  this  grossness  of  treatment  reaches  its  most  of- 
fensive development  in  the  impious  attempt  to  symbolize 
the  sublime  mystery  of  the  Holy  Trinity  by  a  grotesque 
figure  with  three  heads,  or  a  head  with  three  faces 
joined  together,  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  the 
three-headed  image  of  Brahma  in  the  Hindoo  mythol- 
ogy.f  In  other  examples  the  Trinity  is  represented  by 
three  harsh  stiff  and  aged  figures,|  identified  by  the  at- 
tributes of  the  tiara,  cross,  and  dove,  enveloped  in  one 
common  mantle,  and  jointly  crowning  the  Virgin  Mary 
in  heaven,  whose  flowing  train  the  angels  humbly  bear. 
By  this  degradation  of  Deity  and   exaltation  of  Mary 

♦  We  have  seen  a  picture  of  the  creation  in  which  the  Almighty 
was  represented  as  a  feeble  old  man  dressed  in  ecclesiastical  robes, 
with  a  lantern  in  his  hand. 

f  See  a  fresco  by  Andrea  del  Sarto  at  St.  Salvi,  Florence,  two  of  the 
fifteenth  century  at  Penigia,  and  an  engraving  in  a  copy  of  Dante 
printed  at  Florence  in  A.  D.  1491.  In  an  example  given  in  Ames' 
Typography,  a  triangular  jewel  is  appended  to  the  three-faced  head,  the 
inscription  on  which  attempts  to  explain  mathematically  the  mysterious 
doctrine  of  the  unity  in  trinity.  This  mystery  was  also  symbolized 
by  the  shape  of  some  of  the  ancient  monasteries,  by  the  number  of 
their  cloistered  inmates,  by  the  genuflections  of  the  service  and  the 
parts  of  the  liturgy  ;  and  even  the  bell  and 

"  The  rope  with  its  twisted  cordage  three 
Denoted  the  scriptural  Trinity." 

Sometimes  the  Holy  Spirit  is  represented  by  a  dove  proceeding  from 
the  mouths  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  or  even  nailed  to  the  cross 
with  Christ. 

X  See  on  the  carved  stalls  of  the  Amiens  Cathedral,  and  at  Vier- 
rieres  in  the  Department  de  I'Aube,  both  of  the  sixteenth  century. 


The  Biblical  Cycle, 


3<Ji 


we  may  mark  the  infinite  divergence  in  faith  and  prac- 
tice of  the  modern  church  of  Rome  from  the  simplicity, 
purity,  and  orthodoxy  of  the  ancient  church  of  the 
Catacombs,  as  evidenced  by  that  primitive  art  and 
symbolism  whose  priceless  monuments  we  have  been 


examining. 


•     •• 


J     • 


•»..;.     . 


•  »• 


■  «.•    .•     • 


'!| 


'•    .  •  •    * 


J} 

if  ' 


\C2 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


i 


'  \ 


II' 


U  i) 


CHAPTER   IV. 

GIL.T   GLASSES   AND    OTHER     OBJECTS     FOUND    IN    THE 

CAIACOMBS. 

Ever  since  the  re-discovery  and  exploration  of  the 
Cataconbs  in  the  sixteenth  century  they  have  been  a 
vast  treasury  from  which,  as  from  an  inexhaustible  mine, 
have  been  derived  iinunierable  relics  of  Christian  an- 
tiquity, many  of  them  of  inestimable  value.  Among 
these  are  a  number  of  gilt  glasses  of  curious  design  and 
remarkable  interest,  limps,  vises,  rings,  seals,  toys, 
trinkets,  and  various  objects  of  domestic  use  or  orna- 
ment. Collections  of  these  relics  are  found  in  most  of 
the  great  museums  of  Europe,  especially  in  those  of  the 
city  of  Rome.  An  account  of  ,the  more  important  of 
them  will  be  given  in  the  present  chapter. 

Reference  has  alreadv  been  made  to  the  numerous 
fragments  of  gilt  glass  found  in  the  Catacombs,  which 
so  remarkably  illustrate  Christian  life  in  the  primitive 
ages.  In  the  last  century,  Buonarotti  described  all  the 
specimens  then  known.  The  distinguished  archaeolo- 
gist. Padre  Garrucci,  has  recently  exhaustively  treated 
these  remains  of  ancient  art  in  his  elaborate  mono- 
graph on  this  subject.*  Tl  ey  are  also  profusely  illus- 
trated in  the  magnificent  pages  of  Perret.f 

These  glasses  are  generally  mutilated  fragments,  ap- 

*  Vetri  orttati  di  figure  in  oro  trovati  ttti  cimiteri  dei  Cristiani 
primitivi  di  Roma  raccolti  e  spiegati  da  Raffaele  Garrucri. — Roma, 
1858. 

\  Osservazioni  sopra  alcuni  fra  cmenti  di  vasi  antichi  di  vetro 
ornati  di  figure  trovati  nn  ci>niteri  di  Roma. — Firenze,  1716. 


Various  Objects  Found  Therein. 


l^l 


parently  the  bottoms  of  drinking-cups,  and  occasionally 
of  the  dish-iike  shape  of  the  classic  patera.  They  vary 
in  size  from  about  one  to  four  or  five  inches  in  diameter. 
The  design  is  executed  in  gold  leaf  on  the  bottom  of  the 
cup,  so  as  to  appear  through  the  glass  on  the  inside,  and 
is  occasionally  beautifully  relieved  by  a  dark  purple  back- 
ground. It  is  protected  by  a  plate  of  glass,  fused  upon 
the  lower  surface  so  as  to  become  a  solid  mass,  like  the 
glass  paper-weights  with  enclosed  ornamental  designs 
which  are  so  common.  The  pictures  thus  hermetically 
sealed  are  indestructible  so  long  as  the  glass  is  not  frac- 
tured. These  vessels  were  apparently  affixed  at  the 
time  of  burial  to  the  soft  plaster  of  the  grave ;  but  the 
thinner  portion,  standing  out  from  the  cement,  has  almost 
invariably  been  broken,  while  the  thick  part,  imbedded 
in  the  plaster,  has  been  preserved.  Sometimes  even  the 
solid  bottoms  of  these  vessels  were  fractured  in  the  effort 
to  detach  them  from  the  walls,  and  frequently  impres- 
sions in  the  cement  indicate  where  they  were  affixed. 
They  are  rarely  found  in  situ^  having  been  destroyed  or 
carried  off  by  successive  generations  of  explorers  or 
plunderers.  The  most  important  collection  is  in  the 
v''atican  Library.  In  the  British  Museum  are  some 
thirty  specimens ;  in  the  museums  of  Paris,  Florence, 
and  Naples,  a  less  number ;  and  a  few  others  in  vari- 
ous private  collections.  The  entire  number  extant 
is  only  three  hundred  and  forty.  In  the  course  of  a 
quarter  of  a  century  De  Rossi  discovered  but  two 
fragments  of  these  glasses.  This  extreme  rarity  is 
doubtless  owing  to  their  excessive  fragility,  and  prob- 
ably also  to  their  being  destroyed  in  large  quantities  to 
procure  the  gold  they  contain.  In  some  of  the  extant 
examples  portions  of  this  gold  has  been  removed  by 
inserting  a  knife  between  the  plates  of  glass.     Perhaps 


:i 


3^4 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


if 


the  ingenious  avarice  of  the  Jewish  "  dealers  in  broken 
glass,"  notorious  even  in  the  days  of  Martial,*  may  have 
largely  contributed  to  the  destruction  of  these  curious 
remains  of  Christian  antiquity. 

It  was  thought  that  the  manufacture  of  these  glasses 
was  known  only  at  Rome;  but  in  the  year, 1864  a  frag- 
ment of  a  glass  plate,  with  a  number  of  small  gilt  me- 
dallions bearing  scriptural  representations  imbedded  in 
it,  was  discovered  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ground 
near  the  church  of  St.  Severin  at  Cologne  ;  and  in  1866 
another  of  similar  character  was  found,  accompanied 
by  some  charred  bones,  in  a  stone  chest  near  the  same 
place. 

Buonarotti  regarded  these  fragments  as  having  all 
formed  part  of  sacramental  vessc  !s ;  but  the  character 
of  the  designs  seems  frequently  to  preclude  that  idea. 
Several  of  these  are  derived  from  the  fables  of  pagan 
mythology,  and  seem  to  indicate,  if  not  heathen  origin, 
at  least  the  influence  of  pagan  types.  Among  them 
are  found  the  figures  of  Achilles,  Hercules,  Daedalus, 
Minerva,  Mercury,  the  Three  Graces,  Cupid  and 
Pysche,  and  other  groups  still  less  congruous  with 
Christian  thought.  Other  scenes  represent  various  in- 
dustries, as  men  sawing,  planing,  and  carving  wood ;  a 
ship-builder  with  his  men  at  work ;  a  tailor,  druggist, 
and  money-coiner,  in  their  respective  shops.  Hunting 
scenes,  men  boxing,  and  charioteers  encouraging  their 
horses,  also  occur,  A  more  numerous  series  represent 
domestic  groups,  portraits  of  husband  and  wife,  fre- 
quently accompanied  by  their  children,  groups  of  chil- 
dren playing,  or  sometimes  a  lady  in  rich  costume,  with 

*  Tran<.tyberinus  ambulator, 
Qui  pallentia  sulphurata  fractis 
Permutat  vitreis. — Epig.,  i,  42. 


Various  Objects  Found  Therein. 


36s 


cupids  holding  her  mirror  and  other  toilet  adjuncts. 
P'requently  occurs  what  seems  to  be  a  marriage  scene, 
with  the  bride  and  bridegroom  joining  hands  over  an 
altar,  above  which  Christ  is  often  depicted  as  plac- 
ing crowns  on  their  heads.  Sometimes  is  expressed  in 
gilt  letters  the  beautiful  wish  vivatis  in  deo — "  May 
you  live  in  God."  In  one  instance  it  is  a  winged  cupid 
that  bestows  the  crown. 

The  majority  of  the  scenes,  however,  are  of  a  dis- 
tinctively Christian  character,  comprising  most  of  the 
subjects  in  the  symbolical  and  biblical  eyeries  already 
described ;  but  from  the  conditions  of  space,  which 
are  often  exceedingly  limited,  the  design  is  frequently 
of  a  very  rudimentary  type.  In  the  large  patera  of 
Cologne  the  medallions  contain  the  separate  parts 
of  different  groups,  which  are  only  intelligible  as  a 
whole.  Besides  the  ordinary  scenes  from  Old  and 
New  Testament  history  there  is  a  unique  example  of 
the  triumph  of  Christ,  in  which  he  appears  in  fulness  of 
glory  holding  the  globe  of  sovereignty ;  while  opposite 
to  him  stands  a  figure,  interpreted  by  Garrucci  as  Isaiah 
prophesying  the  advent  of  the  Light  of  the  World.  Per- 
let  also  figures  one  example  of  Christ  on  the  cross,  with 
Mary  and  John  beside  it,  which  he  thinks  is  later  than 
the  sixth  century. 

Another  class  exhibits  representations  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  generally  in  the  attitude  of  prayer,  either  alone, 
or  standing  between  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  which  posi- 
tion is  also  often  occupied  by  St.  Agnes  or  some  other 
female  saint.  More  frequently  recurring  than  any 
other  figures  are  those  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  They 
are  found  on  eighty  out  of  three  hundred  and  forty 
specimens  figured  by  Garrucci,  or  nearly  one  fourth  of 
the  whole.     They  appear  generally  as  busts  side  by  side, 


yi 


n«:i 


m 


r^'\ 


i 


yjij 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome 


f  .f'i 


without  the  slightest  indication  of  the  superiority  ot* 
one  over  the  other,  Peter  being  often  on  the  left  instead 
of  the  nght,  which,  according  to  the  Romish  theory  of 
his  primacy,  he  should  always  occupy.  Indeed,  thei- 
perfect  parity  in  dignity  and  honour  is  implied  in  ^\\q 
single  crown  sometimes  suspended  over  their  heads,  or 
by  their  simultaneous  crowning  by  Christ,  who  appears 
between  or  above  them.  Other  saints  are  also  repre- 
sented, who  are  discriminated  by  labels  bearing  their 
names,  as  Lawrence,  Vincent,  Sixtus,  Callixtus,  Hip- 
polytus,  etc.  There  are  also  five  or  six  specimens  ex- 
hibiting Jewish  symbols,  the  ark  of  the  covenant  and 
the  rolls  of  the  law.  From  the  technical  difficulties  in 
the  employment  of  a  rather  intractable  materia',  ;.s  well 
as  from  the  general  decline  of  art,  the  execution  is  often 
uncouth  and    stiff.      "  The   faithful,"   says    Buonarotti, 

"desiring  to 
adorn  these  va- 
ses with  pious 
symbols,  were 
forced  to  avail 
themselves  of  in- 
expert workmen, 
or  even  those 
who  pursued 
other  trades."* 
The  accompa- 
nying is  a  char- 
acteristic exam- 
ple, from  this 
author,    of    the 


Piff.  100. -Domestic  Group  in  Qilt  Qlass. 


*  Sicche  v^olendo  i  fedeli  adornar  con  simboli  devoti  i  loro  vasi, 
erano  forzati  per  lo  piii  r.  valersi  di  artefici  inesperti,  e  che  professa- 
VA.no  altre  mestieri. — I'e    V'firi  CeineUriaU. 


Viinous  Objects  found  Therciv. 


'67 


domestic  class.  It  exhibits  a  husband,  wife,  and  child, 
with  the  motto  in  Latin  characters,  pie  zeses — "  Drink 
and  live."  Between  the  faces  is  an  object  like  an  an- 
cient lachrymatory. 

It  is  probable  that  these  vessels  were  designed  not 
for  sacramental  solemnities,  but  for  occasions  of  domes- 
tic and  social  rejoicing,  as  nuptial,  baptismal,  and  anni- 
versary festivals ;  and  for  the  celebration  of  the  Agape, 
or  love 'feast,  after  it  had  lost  the  religious  character  it 
possessed  in  early  times.  Hence  the  selection  of  a 
comparatively  gay  and  mundane  class  of  subjects  ;  some 
derived  from  pagan  art,  and  others  implying  a  conform- 
ity to  the  fashionable  follies  and  amusements  of  the 
world,  and  indicating  a  decline  of  piety  and  corruption 
of  manners. 

Garrucci  thinks,  from  the  large  proportion  of  glasses 
bearing  the  effigies  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  that  thos*^^ 
at  least  were  used  in  connexion  with  the  feast  in  honoui 
of  these  saints,  which  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries 
was  celebrated  in  Rome  as  a  public  holiday,  wir.V  much 
of  the  vulgar  merriment  with  which  the  peasa'^  of  ti^e 
Campagna  keep  their  festa\o-^2cs .  ivlr.  Urowntow  hints 
the  possibility  that  the  "idea  of  restraining  tiic  p;»ta- 
tions  of  the  Roman  Christians  by  depicting  figures 
which  could  only  be  seen  to  advantage  when  the  ^lass 
was  empty,  suggested  the  use  of  these  gilded  cups."* 

The  festive  purpose  for  which  many  of  these  vessels 
was  designed  is  indicated  by  the  convivial  chararter  of 
the  inscriptions  they  bear.  Mr.  Brownlow  haa  trans- 
lated the  following  examples  in  this  sense  :  \  dignitas 

AMICORVM    PIE    ZESES    CVM    TVIS    OMNIBVS    BIBE  ET   PRO- 

PINA— -"  A  mark  of  friendship  ;  drink,  and  (long)  life  to 

thee,  with  all  thine ;  drirk,  and  propose  a  toast ;  "  cvM 

*  Rom.  Sott.,  p.  283.  f  Ibid. 


'ifk."  tsvii 


\ 


Ull-Hl 


1  i...L 


■.fit    \\ 


it 


I 


368 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


Tvis  FELiciTER  ZESES — "  Maycst  tliou  Hve  happily  with 
thine  own ;  "  or,  more  freely,  "  Life  and  happiness  to 
thee  and  thine;  "  HIE  ZESES  EN  AFAeOIS—"  Drink 
and  live  among  the  good." 

Sometimes  these  inscriptions  breathe  a  spirit  of  pious 
congratulation  and  good-will,  as  the  following  from  Fer- 
ret :  HILARIS  VIVAS  CVM  TVIS  OMNIBVS  FEMCITER  SEM- 
PER IN  PACE  DEI  ZESES — "  Joyfully  mayest  thou  live  with 
all  thine ;  happily  mayest  thou  live  forever  in  the  peace 
of  God."  Augustine,  describing  in  his  Confessions  the 
devout  celebration  of  the  anniversaries  of  the  saints  by 
his  mother,  Monica,  says  she  used  to  bring  to  the  fes- 
tivals "  a  small  cup  of  wine  diluted  according  to  her 
own  abstemious  habits,  which  for  courtesy  she  would 
ta3te."* 

Although  it  is  impossible  that  all  these  vessels  were 
des'gned  for  sacramental  purposes,  yet  it  is  not  improb- 
able that  some  of  them  were  used  as  patens  and  chalices 
in  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist.  TertuUian 
speaks  of  the  representation  of  the  Good  Shepherd  on 
the  sacred  cup  in  a  manner  which  seems  to  imply  sim- 
ilarity of  material  and  ornamentation. f  The  Liber 
Pontificalis  states  that  glass  patens  were  in  use  in  the 
third  century.  When  these  were  superseded  by  gold 
and  -iilver  vessels  they  would  not  improbably  be  placed 
as  meiAorials  on  the  tombs  of  departed  saints. { 


M 


*  "  'Jnilc  dignationem  sumeret." — Con/.,  v\,  2.  Compare  with  the 
expression  uignitas   in  the  previous  inscription. 

f  Pastor  quern  in  calice  depingis. — De  Pudicit.,  c.  7,  Ipsse  picturae 
calicuii  vestrorum,  si  vel  in  illis  perlucebit  interpretatio,  .  .  .  et  ego 
ejus  pastoris  scripturam  haurio  qui  non  potest  frangi. — Ibid,,  10. 

X  Glass  chalices  are  common,  indeed  it  is  said  universal,  at  the 
present  day  in  the  Coptic  churches  of  Egypt.  The  San  Great,  or  re- 
put'°-d  vessel  of  the  institution  of  the  I^ord's  Supper,  preserv'ed  in  the 
Cathedral  o^  Genoa,  is,  curiously  enough,  of  glass,  of  a  hexagonal  form„ 


:-«^ 


Various  Objects  Found  Therein. 


369 


!l 


It  is  difficult  to  determine  even  the  proximate  date 
of  these  glasses.  From  the  degraded  character  of  their 
art  they  are  evidently  of  a  comparatively  late  period. 
Garrucci  and  some  other  writers,  indeed,  assign  them  to 
the  third  or  fourth  century;  but  from  the  occurrence  of 
the  nimbus,  and  for  other  technical  reasons,  Marriott 
attributes  many  of  them  to  the  fifth  or  sixth  century.* 
Other  peculiarities  of  execution  are  characteristic  of 
Byzantine  art,  and  a  writer  in  the  Revue  Chrktienne 
asserts  that  there  is  not  a  single  example  of  this  mode 
of  treatment  knov.n  to  belong  to  the  Roman  period. 
The  striking  corruption  of  doctrine  and  practice  indi- 
cated is  also  an  evidence  of  late  orii^in. 

Numerous  small  cups  or  flasks,  known  as  ampulUcy  have 
been  found  affixed  to  the  walls  or  imbedded  in  the 
plaster  of  the  tombs,  frequently  containing  in  the  bot- 
tom a  reddish  deposit.  This  Bosio  concluded  was 
dried  blood,  and  therefore  asserted  that  these  cups  were 
irrefragable  proofs  of  the  martyrdom  of  the  persons  to 
whose  graves  they  were  attached.  The  Roman  eccle- 
siastical authorities  received  this  theory  with  enthusi- 
asm, and  in  the  year  1688  issued  a  decree  that,  "The 
Holy  Congregation  of  Relics,  having  carefully  examined 
the  matter,  decides  that  the  palm  and  vessel  tinged  with 
blood  are  to  be  considered  most  certain  signs  of  mar- 
tyrdom." Eminent  Romanist  writers  have  unflinch- 
ingly asserted,  without  the  least  corroboration  of  their 
theory  from  contemporary  evidence,  that  these  cups 
were  filled  with  the  martyr's  blood  and  affixed  to  his 
grav*    f — another  example  of  the  fatal  mistake  of  Rome 

*  P.  r6,  first   foot  note.     Both  Christ  and  Mary  have  the  nimbus. 
The  legend  Christus  et  Istafanus  on  one  example,  indicating  a  tran 
sition  into  modern  Italian,  implies  a  late  dat*;. 

f  Rock's  Hierur^ia,  p.  269. 

24 


( 


\i 

'    i. 

■ 

1; 

1 

■H 

iil 

ilfi 

;     \ 

fffi 

iffi 

llffi 

inl 

m 


!{' 


m 


'(1 


370 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


in  fortifying  truth  with  the  bulwark  of  falsehood,  and 
thus  shaking  our  confidence  even  in  that  which  is  real. 
The  Acts  of  the  Martyrs,  indeed,  mention  the  collect- 
ing of  their  blood  in  napkins,  sponges,  or  veils,  to  keep 
as  a  talisman  and  heirloom  at  home ;  but  never  of  its 
preservation  in  a  cup,  or  burial  beside  their  graves. 
This  symbol  does  not  occur  on  the  tombs  of  some  who 
were  unquestionably  martyrs ;  *  and  some  who  have  it, 
from  their  extreme  youth,  or  from  some  other  reason 
indicated  by  the  inscription,  cannot  have  belonged  to 
that  honoured  class, f  Moreover,  as  Mr.  Seymour  re- 
marks, some  of  these  alleged  martyr  blood-cups  are  of 
a  form  and  exhibit  designs  unknown  till  long  after  the 
age  of  persecution,!  In  the  example  on  the  following 
page,  given  by  Aringhi,  the  inscription  is  unwarrantably 
translated  by  Romanist  epigraphists,  "  the  blood  of  Sat- 
urnius;"  instead  of,  in  analogy  with  numerous  other 
inscriptions,  "  the  place  [locits\  of  holy  Saturnius." 

The  chemist  Leibnitz  analyzed  the  red  deposit  in 
these  vessels,  and  found  that  it  was  composed  of  organic 
matter,  but  does  not  hazard  the  assertion  that  it  is 
blood.     It  has  been  suggested   by  P.ostell,  with  whom 


wi 


*  See  the  epitaphs  of  Lannus  and  Gordianus,  p.  98. 

f  Muratori  gives  the  epitaph  of  a  girl  of  the  age  of  two  years  and 
twenty  days,  on  whose  tombstone  this  cup  was  found,  and  feeling  the 
absurdity  of  this  theory,  but  unwilling  to  controvert  the  decree  of  the 
Congregation  of  Relics,  he  adds  ironically,  "  In  these  sacred  cemete- 
ries you  especially  wonder  at  two  things,  namely,  that  when  so  many 
glass  or  figured  vases  occur  no  mention  is  made  in  the  inscriptions 
of  martyrdom  ;  and  especially  that  infants  suffered  death  on  account 
of  faith  in  Christ  " — In  sacris  lis  coemeteriis  duo  potissimum  mireris, 
Nempe  quum  tot  Vasa  vitrea  aut  figulina  occurrant,  nullam  tamen 
in  ipsis  inscriptionibus  mortis  pro  Christo  toleratae  mentionemhaberi, 
et  praeterea  Infantes  ob  Fidem  Christi  morti  datos  fuisse, — Nov, 
Thesaur.,  Vet.  Iitscrip.,  p,  I958,  No.  8. 

\  Mornings  ivith  the  yesuits,  p.  222. 


I'  r  a 


Various  Objects  Found  Therein. 


371 


I! 


Fiff.  110.   Reputed  Martyr  Belie  ft:om  the  Catacombs. 

Rochette  agrees,  that  these  cups  were  sacramental  ves- 
sels, and  that  the  sediment  was  the  lees  of  wine,  which 
would  yield  a  similar  organic  residuum.  The  desire  to 
express  fellowship  with  the  departed  in  the  celebration 
of  the  Agape,  or  the  Eucharist,  which  often  took  place 
beside  their  graves,  may  have  led  to  the  custom  of  affix- 
ing these  vessels  to  the  tombs  and  replenishing  them 
with  wine.  We  know  that  this  yearning  of  the  human 
heart  led  in  course  of  time  to  the  offering  of  the  sacra- 
ment to  the  dead,  and  the  burying  it  in  their  graves.* 


!■  !!! 


*  The  Third  Council  of  Carthage  in  the  year  397  forbade  this 
practice, because  Christ  said,  "  Take  and  eat,"  whereas  a  dead  body 
can  neither  take  nor  eat — Placuit  ut  corporibus  defunctorum  eucha- 
ristia  non  detur.  Dictum  est  enim  a  Domino  Accipite  et  edite :  ca- 
davera  autem  nee  accipere  possunt,  nee  edere. — Cone.  Cath.,  3,  can. 
6.  Chrysostom  also  denounces  the  practice  because  the  words  were 
spoken  to  the  living-  and  not  to  the  dead. — Horn.,  40,  in  I  Cor.  Greg- 
ory the  Great  speaks  of  the  burial  of  the  Eucharist  with  the  dead, 
"  Jussit  communionem  Dominici  corporis  in  pectus  dcfuncti  reponi 
atque  sic  tumulari." — Greg.  Dial.,  lib.  ii.  c.  24.  Maitland  thinks  that 
these  cups  were  probably  depositories  for  aromatic  gums  much  used 
in  the  interment  of  the  dead. 


11 


I  f  f  I 


372 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


The  occurrence  of  the  palm  branch  engraved  or 
painted  on  the  tomb  was  also,  as  we  have  seen,  de- 
clared by  the  Congregation  of  Relics  to  be  a  certain  sign 
of  a  martyr's  tomb.  But  this  was  a  common  symbol  of 
victory  both  among  the  pagans  and  Jews,  and  therelo»V! 
was  naturally  adopted  by  the  Christians  in  token  of 
their  being  "more  than  conquerors  "  through  Christ, 
without  any  reference  to  martyrdom.  It  is  found,  more- 
over, on  graves  posterior  to  the  times  of  persecution,  on 
those  of  children,  and  even  on  a  tomb  which  a  man  had 
prepared  for  himself  while  yet  alive.  Muratori,  who 
gives  this  example,  though  a  devout  Romanist,  says  the 
palm  was  by  no  means  a  sign  of  martyrdom.*  Other 
criteria  of  martyrdom  were  also  adopted,  as  the  occur- 
rence of  the  laurel  and  the  olive  crown,  and  the  appear- 
ance of  oranti  on  the  tombs;  but  the  former  are  also 
common  to  paganism,  and  in  Christian  epigraphy  adorn 
the  graves  of  very  young  children,  and  the  latter  fre- 
quently occur  on  the  sarcophagi  after  the  age  of  perse- 
cution had  passed. 

It  is  remarkable  that  so  few  allusions  to  martyrr"  nri 
occur  in  the  Catacombs.  In  the  whole  range  of  the  in- 
scriptions, as  before  observed,  only  five,  some  of  which 
may  be  spurious,  commemorate  martyrs,  or  less  than 
one  in  two  thousand.  The  pictorial  representations  of 
this  event  are  less  frequent  still.  In  the  cemetery  of 
St.  Priscilla  was  discovered  a  terra  cotta  bas  relief  of  the 
martyrdom  of  St.  Sebastian,  but  evidently  of  late  date : 
the  soldiers  are  armed  with  cross-bows,  and  are  clad 
apparently  in  mediaeval  plate  armour.  This  subject  has 
at  all  times  been  a  favourite  theme  of  Italian  art,  and 
this   relief   may  have   been    left   at   the  shrine  of  the 

*  "  Ergo  palma  indicium  minime  Martyri  fuit." — The  inscription, 
which  bears  two  palms,  reads  thus — leopardvs  se  bibv  fecit. 


Various  Objects  Found  Therein. 


373 


saints  by  some  pious  pilgrim  of  the  Middle  Ages.  In 
the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus  is  a  painting  of  two  Chris- 
tian$  standing  before  the  tribunal  of  a  Roman  magistrate. 
This  is  probably  of  the  early  centuries,  but  how  differ- 
ent from  the  gross  and  bloody  martyr-pictures  in  the 
church  of  S.  Steffa*w  in  Rotondo  in  Rome.  On  one  of 
the  gilt  glasses,  executed  long  after  the  days  of  persecu- 
tion, is  a  group  supposed  to  represent  Isaiah  sawn 
asunder,  and  in  one  of  the  Catacombs  is  a  scene  thought 
to  indicate  the  martyrdom  of  Hippolytus.  The  pit  iures 
of  Daniel  and  the  three  Hd^rews  indicate  rathor  Hie 
triumph  than  the  trial  of  God's  saints. 

The  martyrs  left  no  outward  memorial  of  their  suffer- 
ings, nor  was  any  needed,  for  their  intrepid  spirit  ani- 
mated the  whole  Christian  community.  D'Agincourt 
says  he  found  in  thirty  years*  exploration  only  one  pic- 
ture, and  that  of  late  and  barbarian  design,  portraying 
martyrdom.*  Those  who  themselves  stood  in  jeopardy 
every  hour  did  not  magnify  the  merit  of  the  faithful 
confession  of  Christ,  whom  they  considered  alone  de- 
serving of  the  title  of  "  Faithful  and  True  Witness."  No 
sacred  litany  entreated  St.  Stephen,  St.  Lawrence,  St. 
Vincent,  and  all  holy  martyrs,  to  pray  for  them ;  nor 
is  any  such  inscription  found  in  the  whole  range  of  the 
epigraphy  of  the  Catacombs,  f 

In  the  following  rude  representation,  from  a  slab  in 
the  Lapidarian  Gallery,  Romish  imagination  has  dis- 
covered the  outline  of  a  furnace,  or  of  a  caldron   of 


n 


f" 


*  II  n'a  rencontre  lu.  meme  dans  ces  souterrains  aucun  trace  de  mil 
autre  tableau  representant  une  martyre. — Hist,  de  PArt. 

f  A  fresco  of  the  martyrdom  of  Felicitas  and  her  seven  sons,  in  an 
ancient  chapel  within  the  Baths  of  Titus,  is  not  later,  according  to  M. 
Rochette,  {Mem,,  de  FAcad.  des  Inscr.,  torn,  xiii,  p.  165,)  than  the 
seventh  century. 


I ' 


'  u 


^  ^ 

^^v: 


Vi8>^. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


l^llft    12.5 

Uj  ^^    !■■ 

Itt  lU    122 

—     ■mm 


1^  1^  Ii4 


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Hiotographic 

Sdaices 

Corporation 


23  WIST  MAIN  STRUT 

WItSTIR.N.Y.  MSSO 

(716)  •73-4503 


374 


The  Catacofnbs  of  Rome, 


boiling  oil  in  which  Victorina  was  immersed.  A  com- 
parison with  other  similar  figures  indicates  that  it  is 
intended  for  a  corn  measure  filled  with  grain,  the  sign 
of  the  trade  of  an  ancient  meal  merchant. 


NA(N 
EIT/Ni: 


"  Victorina  in  peace  and  in  Christ." 
Fig.  1 1 1.— A  Beputed  Symbol  of  Martyrdom. 

In  the  Vatican  Museum  are  certain  truculent-looking 
objects,  said  by  the  Roman  custodians  to  be  instruments 
of  torture  taken  from  the  graves  of  the  martyrs.*  But 
the  locality  in  which  they  were  found  is  seldom  recorded, 
which  deprives  them  of  much  of  their  historic  value ; 
and  many  of  them  are  probably  fictitious.  Dr.  North- 
cote  admits  that  they  are  often  "  of  doubtful  authentic- 
ity," and  that  "  many  look  more  like  domestic  utensils, 
and  seem  to  be  of  Etruscan  workmanship."  "  These,"  he 
adds,  "  were  probably  never  taken  from  the  Catacombs 
at  all."  t  Others  have  too  modern  an  appearance  to 
admit  such  a  supposition,  and  look  rather,  as  Maitland 
suggests,  as  if  "  taken  from  the  chambers  of  the  Holy 
Inquisition."!  Among  the  most  formidable  of  these 
alleged  instruments  of  martyrdom,  as  well  as  the  most 
probably  genuine,  are  the  terrible  plumbatce  and  ungulce. 
The  former  were  scourges  of  small  chains  loaded  with 

*  Aringhi  has  given  an  entire  chapter  on  this  subject,  entitled 
"  Martyriorum  instrumenta  un4  cum  martyrum  corporibus  tumulo  re- 
ponuntur." — Rom   Sott.,  i,  29. 

f  Catacombs  of  Rome,  pp.  iii,  ii£.  \  Ibid.,  p.  187. 


Various  Objects  Found  Therein. 


375 


[itled 
lo  re- 


bronze  or  lead,  with  which,  it  is  recorded,  the  martyrs 
were  often  beaten  to  death.*  Aringhi  and  others  have 
affected  to  discover  on  the  mouldering  skeletons  of  the 
early  Christians,  after  the  lapse  of  fifteen  hundred  years, 
the  marks  made  by  these  plumbata.  In  one  exceptional 
instance  given  by  Bosio,f  an  orante  is  represented  with 
this  dreadful  instrument  of  torture  lying  b-^side  her. 
The  unguice,  as  the  name  implies,  are  iron  claws  or 
hooks,  desv'-.ribed  in  the  Acts  of  the  Martyrs  as  em- 
ployed for  lacerating  their  flesh.  The  dreadful  wounds 
they  inflict  are  referred  to  by  Prudentius  in  his  account 
of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Vincent :  "  One  covers  with 
kisses  the  double  furrows  of  the  ungula  ^  another  is 
glad  to  wipe  the  purple  stream  from  the  body." 

In  the  Catacomb  of  Calepodius  was  discovered  an  iron- 
toothed  comb  considered  to  have  been  similarly  employed 
in  torturing  the  martyrs ;  in  the  crypts  of  St.  Alexander, 
among  other  iron  instruments,  was  found  a  long  narrow 
ladle,  which  it  is  thought  was  used  in  pouring  molten  lead 
down  their  throats ;  and  in  the  cemetery  of  St.  Agnes  an 
iron  hook,  designed,  as  Aringhi  conceived,  for  dragging 
their  bodies  after  death.  In  the  Vatican  Museum  is 
also  a  pair  of  iron  forceps,  with  horrid  trenchant  teeth 
and  the  remains  of  wooden  handles,  probably  employed 
in  pinching  and  tearing  the  flesh  of  the  helpless  victims 
of  heathen  rage.  A  similar  forceps  is  sometimes  en- 
graved on  a  funeral  slab,  where,  in  accordance  with 
analogous  examples,  it  probably  indicated  the  trade  ot 
the  deceased  as  a  smith.  The  genius  of  primitive 
Christianity  was  averse  to  recording  the  circumstances 
of  the  believer's  death,  and  made  slight  allusion  to  the 

*  "  Flagellum  quoddain  ad   corpus    excruciandum,"  is  the  phrasQ 
of  Aringhi. 

f  /iam.  Soft.,  p.  387. 


a 


^^ 


n(^ 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


sufferings  of  the  martyrs.  Although  it  is  possible  that 
some  of  these  relics  of  persecution  may  be  genuine, 
yet  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  the  Christians  could 
obtain  from  the  pagan  authorities  these  instruments  of 
torture,  or  why  they  should  bury  them  with  the  martyred 
dead ;  and  these  considerations  will  account  for  the  ex- 
treme rarity  of  their  authentic  occurrence. 

Vast  numbers  of  lamps  have  been  found  in  the  Cata- 
combs, and  specimens  abound  in  almost  every  antiqua- 
rian museum.  They  must  have  been  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  dispel  the  darkness  of  these  gloomy  crypts,  so 
as  to  render  them  safe  for  the  solemnizing  of  funeral 
rites,  for  wcyrship,  or  for  sanctuary  from  oppression. 
They  are  of  varj'ing  material  and  design,  but  are  for 
the  most  part  of  terra  cotta  of  the  ordmary  antique 
pattern  and  of  common  workmanship.  Many,  however, 
were  executed  in  bronze  or  iron,  often  with  considerable 
taste  and  skill.  Some  of  these  had  bronze  chains  by 
which  to  suspend  them  from  the  ceiling  of  the  cham- 
bers or  corridors.  Those  in  terra  cotta  had  frequently 
handles  by  which  they  could  be  carried ;  most,  how- 
ever, were  without  either,  and  were  placed  in  niches  in 
the  tufa  near  the  stairways,  at  the  entrances  of  the  prin- 
cipal galleries,  at  the  angles  of  the  corridors,  and  in 
the  cubicula  used  for  purposes  of  worship. 

These  lamps  generally  bore  some  Christian  symbol, 
as  the  sacred  monogram,  the  Good  Shepherd,  the  palm, 
fish,  or  dove,  and  not  unfrequently  the  heads  of  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul.  Sometimes  the  lamp  itself  was 
made  in  the  shape  of  a  boat,  the  emblem  of  the  church 
voyaging  through  a  stormy  sea  to  the  shores  of  eternity ; 
of  the  mystic  fish,  whose  representation  entered  so 
largely  into  primitive  art ;  of  a  dove,  the  symbol  of  th^ 
believer's  guilelessness  and  purity ;   or  of  a  cqcH,  th? 


Vanous  Objects  Found  Tlurein. 


177 


eniblem  of  vigilance,  a  monition  that  he  should  watch 
and  be  sober.  They  frequently  bear  inscriptions  refer- 
ring to  the  five  virgins,  or  to  the  source  of  true  spiritual 
illumination,  the  divine  word,  which  is  a  lamp  unto  the 
feet  and  a  light  unto  the  path.  On  one  example  occurs 
the  legend,  qvasi  lvcernae  lvcenti  in  caliginoso 
LOCO — "  As  a  light  shining  in  a  dark  place,"  a  senti- 
ment peculiarly  appropriate  to  those  gloomy  cham- 
bers of  death,  which 
were  nevertheless  il- 
lumined by  the  glori- 
ous hope  of  a  blissful 
immortality. 

The  accompanying 
example  of  a  symbol- 
ical lamp  in  the  form 
of  a  boat,  furnished 
with  chains  and  ring 
for  suspension,  is  a 
characteristic  type.* 
The  figures  in  the 
little  bark  are  inter- 
preted by  Roman 
archaeologists  as  Pe- 
ter and  Paul  —  the 
pilot  of  the  Galilean 
lake  as  the  chief  of  Flar.  I12.-Barly  Christian  Symlx>l- 
the   apostles   holding  ^' 

♦  Perret,  torn,  iv,  planche  2.  The  ship  was  a  favourite  type  of 
the  church  during  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  church  of  St.  Etienne- 
du-Mont,  at  Paris,  is  a  representation  of  a  vessel  crowded  with  pas- 
sengers, among  whom  the  portrait  of  Francis  I.  has  been  recognized. 
In  an  ancient  Merovingian  MS.  missal  the  same  idea  is  repeated, 
only  the  Holy  Spirit  is  substituted  as  pilot — Bene  gubematus  est 
Spiritus  Sanctus. 


-*k 


378 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


the  rudder  and  guiding  the  fortunes  of  the  church.    The 
tablet    on    the    mast    bears    the    inscription — dominvs 

LEGEM  DAT.     VALERIO  SEVERO  EVTROPIO.     VIVAS — "The 

Lord  gives  the  word.     To  Valerius  Severus  Eutropius. 
May  you  live." 

lig.  113  exhibits  a  lamp  from  the  Catacombs,  on  the 
upper  part  of  which  the  ever-recurring  ichthyic  symbol 
is  repeated,  and  on  the  handle  the  sacred  monogram  of 
the  name  of  Our  Lord.  The  lamp  is  replenished  at  the 
central  opening.  They  soi^etimes  burn  with  two  or 
three  lights.  See  also  the  terra  cotta  lamp  with  handle 
and  medallion  in  Fig.  114,  and  the  hanging  lamps 
shown  in  Figs.  23  and  24. 


! 


Fiff.  1 13.— Symbolical  Lamp  from  the  Catacombs. 

A  lamp  figured  by  Perret  has  the  sacred  monogram 
surrounded  by  the  heads  of  the  twelve  apostles.  On 
another  found  in  the  Jewish  Catacomb  is  a  representa- 
tion of  the  seven-branched  candlestick.  This  also 
occurs  in  Christian  symbolism,  and  probably  is  emblem- 
atic, as  has  been  suggested  by  Dr.  McCaul,  of  the 
sevenfold  gifts  of  the  Spirit  of  divine  illumination. 

The  necessary  use  of  lights  in  the  funeral  solemnities 
of  the  church  in  the  Catacombs  was  probably  the  origin 
of  the  Romish  usage  of  burying   the  dead    with    the 


Various  Objects  Found  Therein. 


379 


accompaniment  of  burning  tapers  even  amid  the  blaze 
of  day.  It  was  also  a  heathen  custom,  in  the  adoption 
of  which,  as  in  so  many  other  things,  the  Catholic  be- 
came the  pagan's  heir.*  Jerome  mentions  its  observ- 
ance in  his  day  at  the  funeral  of  the  famous  Lady 
Paula.f  Several  others  of  the  later  Fathers  mention 
the  same  practice. 

From  the  illumination  of  the  subterranean  chapels 
was  also  derived  the  custom  of  burning  altar  lights, 
which  early  became  prevalent,  and  which  is  so  striking 
a  feature  of  modern  Romanism. |  The  first  step  in  this 
direction  seems  to  have  been  the  practice  of  burning 
tapers  before  the  shrines  of  the  martyrs  in  the  Catacombs, 
probably  for  the  convenience  of  pilgrims  to  their  tombs, 
which  practice  was  continued  in  the  churches  erected 
over  their  remains.  The  Council  of  Elvira  forbade  the 
custom,  §  which  Vigilantius  vehemently  denounced  as 
an  imitation  of  the  pagan  superstition  of  lighting  lamps 
at  the  graves  of  the  dead.]      "We  almost  see,"  he  says, 

*  La  Corinne. 

f  Translata  episcopoium  manibus,  cum  alii  pontifices  lampadas 
cereosque  prseferrent. — Hieron.,  Ep.  27,  ad  Eustach.,  in  Epitaph. 
Paula:. 

X  Sometimes  a  single  candelabrum  bears  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  lights,  emblematic  of  the  days  of  the  year.  More  impressive  is 
a  solitary  lamp  ever  burning  at  some  lowly  shrine,  the  ty-pe  of  the 
flame  of  love  burning  in  perpetual  adoration  on  the  altar  of  the  hearU 

§  Canon.,  34. 

I  The  following  inscription  from  Gruter  indicates  this  practice : 

QVISQVE  •  HVIC  •  TVMVLO 

POSVIT  •  ARDENTEM  •  LVCERNAM 

ILLIVS  •  CINERES  •  AVREA  •  TERRA  •  TEGAT. 

"Who  ever  places  a  burning  lamp  before  this  tomb,  may  a  golden 
soil  cover  his  ashes." 

Lactantius  accuses  the  pagans  of  burning  lights  to  God  as  to  one 
living  in  darkness,  {Institut.  Divin.,  lib.  vi,  cap.  2,)  and  the  Theo- 
co.  tan  Code  forbids  the  custom. 


i 


«  i; 


f 


if 


J 


' 


; :  I 


380 


7Vie  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


"  the  ceremonial  of  the  heathen  introduced  into  the 
churches  under  the  guise  of  religion — piles  of  candles 
lighted  while  the  sun  is  shining.  .  .  .  Great  honour  do 
such  persons  as  do  this,"  he  adds,  "  render  to  the 
blessed  martyrs,  thinking  with  miserable  tapers  to  illu- 
mine those  whom  the  Lamo  in  the  midst  of  the  throne 
shines  upon  with  the  splendour  of  his  glory."*  In  the 
fifth  century,  however,  the  custom  of  thus  striving  to  do 
"  vain  honour  to  the  Father  of  lights  "  had  become 
established. 

Numerous  terra  cotta  vases  of  varying  size  and  shape 
have  been  found  in  the  Catacombs.  Some  of  these 
were  (juite  large,  and  were  probably  used  for  holding 
water  or  wine  for  the  fossors,  or  perhaps  for  the  refugees 
from  persecution.  The  first  vase  in  the  engraving  on  the 
following  page,  which  is  exactly  the  shape  oi  the  classic 
amphora,!  is  over  three  feet  high.  The  acute  termination 
at  the  bottom  was  set  in  a  stand  or  stuck  in  the  ground, 
so  that  the  vessel  stood  upright.  Many  amphorae  have 
been  found  in  this  position  in  the  cellars  of  Pompeii. 
The  upper  right  hand  object  is  furnished  with  a  spout, 
and  an  opening  for  replenishing  the  vessel.  Thr.t  in 
the  lower  right  hand  corner  is  a  lamp  with  a  handle  for 
carrying  it,  ornamented  by  medallion  heads  of  St.  Pe- 
ter and  St.  Paul.  The  small  flasks  in  the  centre  of  the 
engraving  are  of  enamel  and  purple  glass,  about  an 
inch  high,  probably  for  holding  precious  unguents. 
These  miniature  vases  were  sometimes  made  of  agate, 
and   were   occasionally   in    the   shape  of   a  bee-hive,. 

*  Prope  ritum  gentilium  videmus  sub  prsetextu  religionis  intro- 
ductum  in  ecclesias,  sole  adhuc  fulgente  moles  cereorum  accendi, 
etc. — Adv.  Vigil.,  ii. 

f  From  ofi^l  aud  ^fp<j-  -on  account  of  the  handles  on  each  side  of 
the  neck.    They  were  also  called  diota,  or  two-eared,  from  dtuTti. 


Various  Objects  Found  Therein, 


8i 


probably  emblematic  of  the  milk  and  honey  given  at 
baptism,  to  signify  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word  and 
the  sweets  of  salvation  imparted  to  new-born  babes  of 
Christ* 


Fiff.  1 14.— Earthen  Vesitels  from  the  Oataoombs. 

Some  of  these  vessels  are  shallow  basins  rather  than 
vases,  (see  above,  and  also  Fig.  ii6,)  which  have  been 
interpreted  by  Roman  Catholic  writers  as  benttiers,  or 
holy-water   vessels    employed   in   the   services   of  the 

*  Lac  signiBcat  innocentiam  parvulorum. — Hieron.,  in  Esai.  Iv,  i. 
Deinde  egressos  lactis  et  mollis  prsegustare  concordiam  ad  infantine 
significationem.— Ibid.,  Contr.  Litcif.,  c.  4.  See  also  Tertul.,  de 
Coron.  Mil.,  c.  3  ;  Clem.  Alex.,  Padagog.,  lib.  i,  c.  6. 


382 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


Romish  ritual.  They  were  more  |)robably  ablutionary 
basins  for  the  use  of  the  fossors,  summoned  from  their 
grimy  labour  to  assist  in  the  funeral  solemnities;  or, 
possibly,  for  the  symbolical  washing  of  the  hands  by  the 
primitive  bishops  and  presbyters  before  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  eucharist,  which  is  mentioned  by  several  of 
the  Fathers  as  a  fulfilment  of  that  Scripture,  "  I  will 
wash  mine  hands  in  innocency ;  so  will  I  compasi  thine 
altar,  O  Lord,"*  They  have  also  been  regarded  as 
baptismal  vases. 

Generally  this  primitive  pottery,  ex- 
cept the  fictile  lamps,  bears  no  distinc- 
tive Christian  symbol ;  yet  sometimes  it 
does,  as  the  accompanying  amphora, 
the  bottom  of  which  has  been  broken 
^^^    off.    Around  the  vessel  runs  the  inscrip- 

/•ilTiliPi^B  '*°"'  viNCENTi  PIE  ZESE — " Vinccnt, 
'  ^^^  drink  and   live."     On  the    lower  part 

are  three  conquering  horses,  probably 
in  allusion  to  the  name  Vincent.  Above 
the  horses  is  the  inscription,  aegis 
oiKOYMENE  ZEP,  written  backwards. 

The  tall  vessels  shown  in  Fig.  ii6, 
which  are  of  silver  with  gold  coating, 
are  described  by  Perret  as  designed  for 
holding  the  holy  chrism,*  or  sacred 
anointing  oil.  They  were  more  proba- 
bly used  for  containing  the  wine  for  the  eucharist,  for 
which  they  were  of  sufficient  size,  as  the  subterranean 
assemblies  could  not  be  very  numerous.     On  the  large 

*  Nam  otique  et  altare  portarent  et  vasa  ejus,  et  aquam  in  manus 
fanderent  sarcerdoti,  sicut  videmus  per  omnes  ecclesias. — Aug.,  Quast. 
Vet.  et  Nov.  Test.,  qu.  loi.     See  also  Cyril,  Catech.  Afyst.,  5,  n.  i. 

f  ••  Renfermer  le  Saint-chrime"  Tom.  i,  p.  266. 


Piff.    115.— An 
Amphora. 


Various  Objects  Found  Thtrein. 


i^i 


msdallion  is  a  bust  of  St.  Paul,  and  on  the  reverse  that 
of  St.  Peter.  On  the  other  vessel,  besides  the  busts  of 
these  saints,  is  that  of  Our  Lord  wearing  a  nimbus,  to- 
gether with  the  sacred  symbols  of  the  cross,  doves,  and 
lambs.  The  nimbus,  the  form  of  the  r:ross,  the  material, 
and  the  style  of  execution,  indicate  a  comparatively  late 
date.  Some  of  the  vessels  we  have  described  were 
doubtless  employed  also  in  the  celebration  of  the  Agape. 


Flff.  1  Id.— Metal  and  Barthen  Vesaels  from  the  Catacombs. 

Among  the  most  interesting  objects  found  in  the  Cat- 
acombs are  the  rings  and  seals  of  the  early  Christians, 
which  are  frequently  combined  in  one.  Tertullian  speaks 
of  the  annulus  pronubus^  or  ring  of  espousal,  the  wearing 
of  which  was  the  only  use  of  gold  known  to  the  Roman 
women  in  the  days  of  primitive  simplicity ;  *  and  St. 

*  Cum  .lurum  nulla  norat  praeter  unico  digito,  quern  spunsus  op- 
pigiicrasset  annulo  pronuho. — Apol.,  c.  6. 


I   ij 


384 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\{ 


m  -9 


; 


Agnes  declares  her  betrothal  to  Christ  by  the  ring  of 
his  faith.*  A  signet  ring  was  also  considered  an  essen- 
tial part  of  the  bridal  outfit  of  a  newly  wedded  wife,  and 
that  not  for  ostentation,  says  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
but  that,  being  entrusted  with  the  care  of  domestic  con- 
cerns, she  may  seal  up  those  household  treasures  which 
might  otherwise  be  insecure. f  But  these  rings  must  be 
freed  from  every  trace  of  idolatrous  superstition,  and 
becir  only  Christian  symbols.  "  On  our  signet  rings," 
says  the  writer  just  mentioned,^  "  let  there  be  seen  only 
a  dove,  or  a  fish,  or  a  ship  sailing  toward  heaven,  or  a 
lyre,  or  an  anchor;  for  those  men  ought  not  to  engrave 
idolatrous  forms  to  whom  the  use  of  them  is  forbidden  ; 
these  can  engrave  no  sword  and  bow  who  seek  for 
peace ;  the  friends  of  temperance  cannot  engrave  drink- 
ing cups." 

Signet  rings,  being  ancient  symbols  of  authority,  § 
were  also  worn  by  bishops  as  a  sort  of  badge  of  office, 
and  as  a  pledge  of  their  spiritual  espousal  to  the  church 
of  Christ.  A  curious  episcopal  ring  worn  by  St.  Arnulf, 
bishop  of  Metz,  in  the  sixth  century,  exhibits  the  well- 
known  ichthyic  symbol.  | 

The  ring  shown  in  Fig.  117  bears  the  sacred  mono- 
gram accompanied  by  the  significant  Alpha  and  Omega. 
In  the  seal,  or  intaglio,  copied  in  Fig.  118,  the  ship  of  the 
church  is  represented  as  borne  by  the  symbolical  fish, 
while  doves,  the  emblem  of  the  faithful,  perch  upon  the 
mast  and  stern.  In  naive  blending  of  the  literal  with 
the  figurative,  Our  Lord  in  bodily  presence  is  seen  ap- 

*  Et  annulo  fidei  suae  subarravit  me. — In  Ambr.  Ep.  31. 
f  Clem.  Alex.,  Padagog.,  iii,  2.  \  Ibid. 

%  See  the  example  of  Pharaoh,  Gen.  xli,  42  ;  and  Ahasuenis,  EsLhei 
iii,  10,  and  viii,  2. 
I  Pitra,  Spicil.  Solesm.,  tom.  iii,  tab.  iii,  n.  4. 


nol 

an 
Ot 


Viirious  Objects  Found  "'*frein. 


385 


proaching  the  vessel  and  supporting  Peter  by  the  hand, 
doubtless  in  allusion  to  the  trial  of  his  faith  on  the  Sea 
of  Galilee.  The  identity  of  both  figures  is  indicated 
by  the  names  written  overhead.  Two  other  apostles 
row  the  vessel,  and  a  third  lifts  up  his  hands  in  prayer. 
It  was  doubtless  a  seal  of  this  character  to  which  Clement 
of  Alexandria  alludes  as  bearing  the  vat;^  ovf^vodga- 
fiovna — *tho  ship  in  full  sail  for  heaven." 


Flff.  1 17.— A  Ring  from  the  Oat- 
aoombs. 


Flff.  1 18.— A  Seal  from  the 
Oataoombs. 


On  some  signet  rings  in  the  Museum  of  Naples,  found 
in  the  ruins  of  Pompeii,  are  the  Christian  symbols  of 
the  mystical  fish,  palms,  and  the  ahchor  of  hope,  or 
the  synonymous  word  EAlttC.  These  are  almost  the 
sole  indications  of  the  existence  of  any  Christian  ele- 
ment in  that  gay,  luxurious  city.  Other  Pompeian  rings 
bear  light  Epicurean  mottoes,  as:  EYTTXl  HANOIKI  O 
♦EPQN — "  Good  luck  to  thee,  O  wearer,  and  to  all 
thine  ;  *'  AEFOTCIN  A  GEAOTCIN  AEFETQCAN  OT  MEAIMOl 
— "They  say  what  they  will;  let  them  say,  I  co.vz 
not."  Another  has  an  engraving  of  a  finger  holdii>r 
an  ear,  with  the  word,  MNHMONETE—"  Remember." 
Other  Ron^ah  rings  bear  such  mottoes  as,  amo  te  ama 
ME — "  I  love  thee,  love  thou  me ;  "  pignvs  amoris — 
"  A  pledge  of  love ; "  vni  ambrosia  venenvm  CAEtERis 

— **  To  one  nectar,  to  others  poison." 

25 


» 


.'I 


386 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


! 

■ 

■  1 

y 

More  frequently  than  the  seal  itself  occurs  its  im- 
pression in  the  plaster  of  the  graves,  either  to  express 
some  Christian  sentiment,  or  as  a  means  of  recognizing 
a  tomb  which  bore  no  other  mark.  The  stamp  of 
coins,  or  even  shells,  stuck  into  the  plaster,  were  used 
apparently  for  the  same  purpose.  In  the  following  en- 
graving are  represented  impressions  of  two  of  these 
seals.  In  the  first  is  the  confession  of  faith  in  the  divin- 
ity of  Our  Lord  by  some  orthodox  Christian,  probably 
in  the  time  of  the  Arian  heresy.  In  the  second  a  de- 
vout believer  declares  his  hope  in  Christ. 


CHRISTVS  EST  DEVS.  SPES  IN  EO. 

Christ  is  God.  Hope  in  Him,  i.  e.^  in  Christ. 

Pier.  1 19.— Impressions  of  Early  Ohristian,  Seals. 

Other  seals  bear  such  ^  !Ous  mottoes  as  devs  dedit — 
"God  gave  ;  "  vivas  in  deo — "  May  you  live  in  God  ;  " 
SPES  IN  DEO — "  Hope  in  God ;  "  pede  secvndo — "  May 
you  succeed  happily."  Vast  numbers  of  tiles  bearing 
impressions  of  the  die  upon  them  are  found,  but  these 
are  merely  the  stamps  of  the  imperial  brick  kilns,  with 
the  names  of  the  reigning  ftovereigns. 

Affecting  memorials  of  domestic  affection  are  found 
in  the  toys  and  trinkets  of  little  children  enclosed  in 
their  graves  or  affixed  to  the  plaster  without.  The  dolls 
in  the  following  engraving  strikingly  resemble  those  with 
which  children  amuse  themselves  to-day.  They  are 
made  of  ivory,  and  some  are  furnished  with  wires,  by 


ei 
P 


If 

|se 
1th 

id 
in 
klls 
feth 
ire 
Iby 


Various  Objects  Found  Therein. 


l?>7 


which  the  joints  can  be  worked  after  the  manner  of  the 


modern  marionettes, 
corner  is  a  terra 
cotta  vase  with  a 
narrow  slit  for 
receiving  money, 
like  the  common 
children's  sav- 
ings banks.  Be- 
neath it  is  an 
ivory  ring.  The 
other  objects  are 
small  bronze 
bells,    forming 


The  object  in  the  upper  left  hand 


FifT.  120.— Children's  Toys  found  in  the 
Catacombs. 


part  of  a  child's 

rattle.     In    the 

Catacomb   of  St.   Sebastian   was    also    found  a  small 

terra  cotta  horse  of  rude  design,  dappled  with  coloured 

spots. 

The  human  affections  are  the  same  in  every  age. 
These  simphi  objects  speak  more  directly  ;  »  the  heart 
than  "  storied  urn  or  animated  bust."  As  we  gaze  upon 
these  childish  toys  in  the  Vatican  Museum  the  centuries 
vanish,  and  busy  fancy  pictures  the  weeping  Roman 
mother  placing  these  cherished  relics  of  her  dead  babe 
in  its  waxen  hands  or  by  its  side,  as  it  is  laid  from  her 
loving  arms  in  the  cold  embrace  of  the  rocky  grave,  and 
then,  with  tear-dimmed  eyes,  taking  a  last,  long,  linger- 
ing farewell  of  the  loved  form  about  to  be  closed  from 
her  sight  forever. 

Numerous  toilet  articles  have  also  been  found  in  the 
Catacombs,  generally  in  the  graves  of  the  dead  or  cement- 
ed by  the  plaster  to  the  tombs.  Many  of  theye  have  been 
plundered  and  lost ;  but  still  a  very  interesting  coUec- 


••;     ( 


\\ 


I 


k 


\ 


3S8 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I  if 


tion  exists  in  the  Vatican  Library,  Among  its  contents 
are  long  silver  or  ivory  bodkins  for  the  hair,  combs  of 
box  or  ivory,  scent-bottJes  and  boxes  of  perfume, 
broaches,  earrings,  bracelets,  sometimes  with  keys  to 
unlock  the  clasps,  and  other  ornaments  in  bronze,  sil- 
ver, or  gold,*  The  simpler  manners  of  the  Christian 
women,  as  compared  with  those  of  pagan  faith  around 
them,  is  indicated  by  the  conspicuous  absence  of  the 
rouge  pots  and  jars  of  cosmetics,  and  many  other  arti- 
cles of  luxury,  which  formed  so  important  a  part  of  the 
toilet  requisites  of  Rome's  proud  dames,  and  which  are 
so  frequently  found  in  the  ruins  of  Pompeii,  The 
Christian  ornaments,  moreover,  even  after  the  departure 
from  the  primitive  simplicity  of  manners,  were  of  a  very 
different  character  from  those  of  the  corrupt  civilization 
of  paganism.  Instead  of  the  abominable  representa- 
tions of  heathen  art,  suggesting  every  evil  thought  and 
stimulating  every  vile  passion,  of  which  so  many  exam- 
pler--  occur  in  the  Museum  of  Naples,  only  chaste  and 
modest  figures  are  found ;  and  even  the  articles  of  the 
toilet  are  frequently  adorned  with  pious  mottoes.  Thus, 
on  a  bodkin  for  a  lady's  hair,  probably  a  love-gift  to  a 
wife  or  betrothed  bride,  is  engraved  the  beautiful  senti- 
ment, ROMVLA  SEMPER  VIVAS  IN  DEO — "  Romula,  may  you 
ever  live  in  God."  Such  a  religious  art  seems  an  antici- 
pation of  the  day  when  "  Holiness  to  the  Lord  "  shall 
be  written  upon  the  bells  of  the  horses. 

Small  caskets  of  gold  or  other  metal  for  containing  a 

*  When  the  tomb  of  the  Empress  Maria,  v/ife  of  Honorius,  was 
opened  in  1544,  a  profusion  of  ornaments  and  trinkets  were  found, 
from  which,  it  is  said,  not  less  than  thirty-six  pounds  of  gold  were 
taken.  The  Empress  Placidi;;  was  also  interred  in  similar  gorgeous 
funeral  pomp,  which  was,  however,  consumed  in  1577  by  the  acci- 
dental ignition  of  her  gold-embroidered  robes. 


Various  Objects  Found  Therein. 


389 


portion  of  the  gospels,  generally  part  of  the  first  chap- 
ter of  John,  which  were  worn  on  the  neck,  have  also 
been  found.  They  seem  to  have  been  introduced  in 
the  decline  of  primitive  piety  in  imitation  of  the  Jewish 
phylactery  or  pagan  amulet,  and  were  probably  worn 
for  the  same  superstitious  purpose,  to  avert  danger  or 
to  cure  disease.  They  were  condemned  by  Irenaeus, 
Augustine,  Chrysostom,  and  by  the  Council  of  Laodicea, 
as  a  relic  of  heathenism.*  On  a  carved  figure  of  a  fish, 
with  a  hole  drilled  through  it  for  suspending  it  from  the 
neck,  and  probably  intended  for  an  amalet,  is  engraved 
the  word,  CQCAIC — "  Mayest  thou  save  us."  Medals, 
coins,  and  what  are  described  as  tessarie  of  hospitality, 
by  which  the  early  Christians  recognized  travelling 
members  of  distant  churches  as  sharers  of  the  same 
faith,  and  admitted  them  to  their  assemblies  and  their 
homes,  have  likewise  been  found.  So  also  have  articles 
of  domestic  economy,  as  spoons,  knives,  keys,  drinking- 
cups  and  shells  used  as  such,  and  even  a  metallic  kettle 
for  cooking.  Certain  articles  employed  in  religious  ser- 
vice, as  a  baptismal  font,  altars,  chairs,  etc.,  will  be 
hereafter  described. 

This  practice  of  burying  with  the  dead  the  objects 
which  they  had  employed  in  life  was  common  to  the 
pagans  from  the  earliest  Etruscan  times  to  the  most  re- 
cent heathen  sepulture.  They  interred  in  the  tombs 
of  the  departed  every  kind  of  utensil  and  implement 
of  trade,  and  even  articles  of  food.  M.  Rochette  per- 
ceives herein  a  notion,  confused  and  gross  though  it 
may  be,  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  a  proof  of 
that  instinct  of  man  which  recoils  from  the  thought  of 

*  Iren.,  lib.  ii,  c,  57.  Aug.,  tract  7,  in  yoan ;  serm.  215, 
de  Tempore.  Chr)'sos.,  hom.  vi,  Cnntr,  jfuJaos.  Cone.  Laodic, 
can.  36. 


' 


tt 


11 


i\ 


\  % 


I' 


\  ii 


390 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


4 


If 


if 


It 


( 
) 


annihilation.*  In  like  manner,  the  Christians,  although 
animated  by  a  loftier  hope,  and  inspired  with  an  assur- 
ance of  eternal  deathlessness,  long  followed  this  ancient 
custom,  even  to  the  extent  sometimes  of  putting  the 
piece  of  money  in  the  mouth  of  the  deceased,  intended 
by  the  heathen  for  the  payment  of  Charon. f  This  was 
most   probably,  in  many  instances  a  mere  unthinking 

conformity  to  ancient  use  and 
wont.  Milman  asserts  that  the 
practice  of  burying  money, 
often  large  sums,  with  the  dead, 
l)  was  the  cause  of  the  very  se~ 
vere  Roman  laws  against  the 
violations  of  the  tombs,  in- 
asmuch as  the  government 
wished  to  reserve  to  itself  that 
source  of  revenue. J 

In  the  Christian  Museum  of 
the  Vatican  is  a  marble  statue 
of  the  Good  Shepherd,  figured 
in  the  accompanying  engraving, 
which  is  believed  to  be  from 
the  Catacombs.  Although  the 
execution  is  coarse,  yet  from 
the  general  style  Rumohr 
thinks    it    probably  the   oldest 


Fifir.  121.— statue  of  the 
Oood  Shepherd. 


*  II  y  avait  B  une  notion  confuse  et  grossiere  sans  doute  de  I'im- 
mortalite  de  Time,  mais  il  s'y  trouvait  aussi  la  preuve  sensible  et 
palpable  de  cet  instinct  de  rhomme,  qui  repugne  4  I'idee  de  la  de- 
struction de  son  6tre. — Me/n.  de  PAcad.  des  Inscr.,  torn,  xiii,  p.  689. 

f  Rochette  says  that  this  practice  continued  down  to  the  time  of 
Thomas  Aquinas,  who  wrote  against  it. 

X  "  Gold  may  justly  be  taken  from  the  sepulture  which  no  longer 
contains  its  original  owner,"  says  the  minister  of  Theodoric  to  a  pro- 
vincial governor ;  "  indeed,  it  is  a  sort  of  fault  to  leave  idly  hidden 


Various  Objects  Found  Therein. 


39 » 


extant  specimen  of  Christian  statuary.*  Sculpture 
seems  to  have  bowed  less  willingly  than  painting  to  the 
new  religion,  and  was  much  more  tardy  in  laying  its 
offerings  on  the  altar  of  Christianity.  It  retained  also 
much  of  the  spirit  of  paganism,  and  never  became  thor- 
oughly imbued  with  Christian  sentiment.  The  colossal 
figure  of  the  Galilean  fisherman  beneath  the  mighty 
dome  of  his  oroud  mausoleum — that  stateliest  fane  in 
Christendom — if  not  indeed  the  identical  statue  of  the 
Capitoline  Jove,  is  copied  from  a  heathen  model. 
The  majestic  Moses  of  Michael  Angelo  seems  rather 
the  embodied  conception  of  the  cloud-compelling 
Phidian  Zeus  than  of  the  Hebrew  patriarch,  de- 
scribed as  the  meekest  of  men.  Even  Thorwald- 
sen's  sublime  figures  of  Christ  and  the  apostles 
exhibit  more  of  the  majesty  of  antique  pagan  art 
than  of  the  meek  and  tender  grace  of  Christianity. 
Sculpture,  as  M.  Rochette  well  remarks,  struck  its  roots 
deeply  into  the  soil  of  heathenism,  and  was  with  the  ut- 
most difficulty  transplanted  therefrom.  It  is  essentially 
pagan  in  its  character,  and  is  especially  adapted  for  the 
expression  of  the  severer  virtues.  Painting  is  r«.ore  in- 
stinct with  Christian  spirit,  and  is  the  better  fitted  for 
the  representation  of  the  softer  graces. 

Moreover,  the  profession  of  the  sculptor  was  held  in 
abhorrence  on  account  of  its  connexion  with  idolatry. 
Tertullian  stigmatizes  the  makers  of  images  as  the  fos- 

with  the  dead  that  which  might  support  the  living." — Aurum  enim 
justd.sepulcro  detrahitur,  ubi  dominus  non  habetur ;  imo  cuipse  genus 
est  inutiliter  abdita  relinquere  xnortuorum,  unde  se  vita  potest  susten- 
tare  viventium. — Cassiod.,  Var.^  iv,  34. 

*  Italienische  Forschungen,  vol.  i,  p.  168. — The  subject  of  early 
Christian  sculpture  is  fully  treated  in  a  recent  work  by  Dr.  Wilhelm 
Liibke,  entitled  Geschichte  der  Plastik.  Two  vols.  Leipzig:  See- 
man,  1870. 


\    t 


:  U 


392 


The  Catacombs  of  Pome. 


ter-fathers  of  devils  and  the  procurer;  of  idols.*  Pru- 
dentius  calls  Mentor  and  Phidias  the  m?.kers  and  parents 
of  the  heathen  gods.f  All  who  were  in  any  wise  con- 
nected with  this  unhallowed  craft  were  rejected  from 
the  ordinance  of  baptism  and  denied  the  holy  eucharist.J 
"  The  ancient  Christians,"  Buonarotti  truly  remarks, 
"always  kept  aloof  from  these  arts,  by  which  tiiey  might 
have  run  a  risk  of  polluting  themselves  with  idolatry ; 
and  hence  it  arose  that  few  or  none  of  them  devoted 
themselves  to  painting  or  to  sculpture,  which  had 
as  their  principal  object  the  representations  of  the 
gods  or  the  myths  of  the  heathen."  §  Hence  the 
almost  entire  absence  of  Christian  statuary  from  the 
Catacombs.  Even  the  sculptured  bas  reliefs  of  the 
sarcophagi  before  described  were  for  the  most  part  the 
product  of  that  later  period,  when  Christianity,  coming 
forth  from  these  subterranean  crypts,  walked  in  the  light 
of  day  and  basked  in  the  favour  of  princes. 

This  brief  notice  of  early  Christian  sculpture  would 
be  incomplete  without  some  reference  to  the  statue  of 
the  celebrated  Hippolytus,  bishop  of  Portus,  the  most 
remarkable  known  specimen  of  that  class.  It  was  dis- 
covered by  some  workmen  digging  near  the  church  of 
San  Lorenzo  fuori  le  mm  a  in  the  year  155 1,  and  proba- 
bly originally  stood  in  the  adjacent  Catacomb  of  Hip- 

*  Qua  constantia  cxorcizabit  alumnos  suos,  quibus  domum  suam 
cellariam  prsestat  .  .  .  quid  aliud  quam  procurator  idolorum  demon- 
straris? — De  Idol.,  c.  ii.- 

f  Fabri  deorum,  vel  parentes  numinum. — Peristepk.,  x,  293j» 

X  Constit.  Apostol.,  lib.  viii,  c.  32. 

§  Stettero  sempre  lontane  di  quelle  arti,  coUe  quali  avessero  potuto 
correr  pericolo  di  contain inarsi  colla  idolatria,  e  da  cio  avvenne,  che 
pochi,  o  niuno  di  essi  si  diede  alia  pittura  e  alia  scultura,  le  quali 
aveano  per  oggetto  principale  di  rappresentare  le  deitil,  e  le  favole  de' 
gentili. — Buonarotti,  D^  Vetri  Cemeteriali. 


I  I . 


I    ; 
1 


Various  Objects  Found  Therein. 


39.? 


polytus.  The  rnirtyr  bishop  is  represented  as  seated 
in  a  sort  of  episcopal  chair.  The  figure  is  modelled 
with  a  classic  grace  and  dignity  superior  to  any  exam- 
ples of  the  Constaiitinian  period.  Indeed,  the  distin- 
guished art  critic,  Winckelmann,  declares  it  to  be  the 
finest  specimen  of  early  Christian  sculpture  extant.  It 
was  considerably  mutilated,  but  has  been  skilfully  re- 
stored, and  now  stands  in  the  Lateran  Museum.  On 
the  base  of  the  chair  is  engraved  a  list  of  the  published 
vritings  of  Hippolytus,*and  also  the  table  which  he  con- 
structed for  determining  the  true  period  of  the  Easter 
festival.  The  discovery  of  an  error  in  this  taole  de- 
prived it  of  much  of  its  value ;  and  the  date  of  this 
monument  is  probably  prior  to  that  discovery,  or  the 
early  part  of  the  third  century. 

Passing  allusion  should  also  be  here  made  to  the  early 
Christian  diptychs,  specimens  of  which  are  found  in  al- 
most every  antiquarian  museum.  These  were  formed 
after  the  model  of  the  imperial  and  consular  diptychs, 
or  registers  of  the  public  officers  of  Rome.     They  con- 

*  These  were  exceedingly  voluminous,  and  although  several  of  them 
have  perished,  those  which  remain  throw  great  light  on  one  of  the 
most  obscure  periods  in  the  history  of  the  church,  and  vindicate  the 
title  of  Origen  of  the  West,  bestowed  on  Hippolytus  by  Pressense. 
Among  his  most  important  works  v/ere  a  commentary  on  the  greater 
part  ot  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  treatises  on  Antichrist,  on  the 
Gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  on  Good  and  the  Origin  of  Evil,  on  God 
and  the  Resurrection.  He  was  especially  noted,  moreover,  as  a  vig- 
orous and  skilful  polemic,  and  wrote  against  Platonism  and  Juda- 
ism, and,  Si  we  have  seen,  (page  173,)  against  Callixtus,  bishop  of 
Rome,  for  his  pantheistic  heresy.  His  great  work,  however,  is  that 
entitled  the  Philosophoiimena.  "It  is  a  vast  repertory,"  says  Prcs- 
sens6,  "  reviewing  all  the  doctrinal  controversies  of  the  church  from 
the  earliest  ages  and  most  obscure  beginnings  of  Gnosticism.  Chris- 
tian antiquity  has  left  us  no  more  valuable  monument  than  the  treat- 
ise "On  all  the  Heresies"  of  Hippolytus,  discovered  a  few  years 
since  among  the  dusty  treasures  of  a  convent  of  Mount  Athos." 


394 


The  Catacomb^  of  Rnmc. 


i 


'' 


sisted  of  tablets  of  ivory,  wood,  or  metal,  folded  to- 
gether,* and  bore  the  names  of  the  bish>^ps,  officers, 
or  distinguished  patrons  of  the  church,  and  memorials 
of  the  martyrs  and  holy  dead.  These  memorials  were 
frequently  read  in  the  religious  assemblies  of  the  primi- 
tive church,  especially  on  the  anniversaries  of  the  mar- 
tyrs' death.  This  practice  led  in  course  of  time  to  the 
invocation  of  their  aid  in  the  Litany  of  the  Saints,  and 
to  other  errors  of  Romanism.  The  diptychs  had  also 
frequently  elaborate  bas  reliefs  of  scenes  from  the 
biblical  cycle,  and  in  the  age  of  image-worship  bore  the 
figures  of  the  saints  to  whom  a  corrupt  Christianity  had 
begun  to  pay  an  idolatrous  veneration.  They  became 
thus  the  prototype  of  the  illuminated  missal  of  the 
Middle  Ages. 

*  Whence  the  name,  from  dinrvxov,    twofold  ;  when  several  tab- 
lets were  used  they  were  called  ttoXvtttvxov,  or  manifold. 


1i 


BOOK    TFIIRD. 


11 


THE  INSCRIPTIONS  OP  THE  CATACOMBS. 


CHAPTER   I. 


.  GENERAL   CHARACTER   OF   THE    INSCRIPTIONS. 

Few  places  in  Rome  are  more  attractive  to  the  student 
of  Christian  archaeology  than  the  Lapidarian  Gallery  in 
the  palace  of  the  Vatican.  In  this  long  corridor*  are 
preserved  a  multitude  of  epigraphic  remains  of  the  ven- 
erable past,  shattered  wrecks  of  antiquity,  which  have 
floated  down  the  stream  of  time,  and  have  here,  as  in 
a  quiet  haven,  at  length  found  shelter.  The  walls  on 
either  side  arc  completely  covered  with  inscribed  slabs 
affixed  to  their  surface.  On  the  right  hand  are  arranged 
the  pagan  monuments  collected  from  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  city — sepulchral  and  votive  tablets,  altar  dedica- 
tions, fragments  of  imperial  rescripts  and  edicts,  and 
other  evidences  of  the  power  and  splendour  of  the 
palmy  days  of  Rome.  On  the  left  are  the  humble  epi- 
taphs of  the  early  Christians,  rudely  carved  in  stone  or 
scratched  in  plaster,  and  brought  hither  chiefly  from 
the  crypts  of  the  Catacombs.  Of  greater  interest  to 
him  who  would  rehabilitate  the  early  ages  of  the  church, 

and 

To  the  sessions  of  sweet  silent  thought 
Would  summon  up  remembrance  of  things  past,f 

*  It  is  eight  hundred  feet  in  extent,  and  contains  about  three  thou- 
sand inscriptions. 

f  Shakspeare's  Sonnets,  No.  XXX. 


I 


?' 


I 


I     1  1 


396 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


is  this  long  corridor  of  inscriptions  than  any  of  the  fcir 
thouf  lartments  of  that  vast  palace  of  the  popes, 

with  mcii  priceless  bronzes,  marbles,  gems,  frescoes,  and 
other  remains  of  classic  art.  He  will  turn  away  from 
the  noble  galleries  where  the  Laocoon  forever  writhes 
in  stone,  and  Apollo — lord  of  the  unerring  bow — watches 
his  arrow  hurtling  toward  its  mark,  to  the  plain  marble 
slabs  that  line  these  walls.  In  the  rude  iiiscriptions 
here  recorded  he  will  discover  some  of  the  strongest 
evidences  of  revealed  religion  and  most  striking  proofs 
of  the  purity  of  the  faith,  simplicity  of  worship,  and 
uncorrupted  doctrines  of  the  early  church.  Thus  prim- 
itive Christianity  lifts  its  solemn  protest  in  these  halls 
of  wealth  and  power,  in  the  very  palace  of  the  popes, 
against  the  anti-Christian  system  of  which  they  are  the 
representatives. 

Here  the  monuments  of  pagan  and  of  Christian 
Rome  confront  each  other.  The  spectator  stands  be- 
tween two  worlds  of  widest  divergence,  and  cannot  but 
be  struck  with  the  immense  contrast  between  them. 
"I  have  spent,"  says  M.  Rochette,  "many  entire  days 
in  this  sanctuary  of  antiquity,  where  the  sacred  and 
profane  stand  face  to  face  in  the  written  monuments 
preserved  to  us,  as  in  the  days  when  paganism  and 
Christianity,  striving  with  all  their  powers,  were  engaged 
in  mortal  conflict."*  On  the  one  side  are  recorded  the 
pride  and  pomp  of  worldly  rank,  the  lofty  titles  and 
manifold  distinctions  of  every  class,  from  divinities  to 
slaves.  The  undying  historic  names  of  Rome's  mighty 
conquerors,  the  leaders  of  her  cohorts  and  legions, 
mingle  with  those  of  the  proud  patrician  citizens,  and 
alike  display  on  their  sepulchral  slabs  the  august  array 
of  praenomen,  nomen,  and  cognomen,  which  attest  their 
*  Tableau  des  Catacombes,  p.  x. 


I' 


Character  of  the  Inscriptions. 


397 


lofty  social  position  or  civil  power.*  The  costly  carving 
and  elaborate  has  reliefs  of  many  of  these  monuments 
indicate  the  wealth  of  him  whom  they  commemorate. 
The  elegantly  turned  classic  epitaph — with  its  elegiac 
hexameters  breathing  the  stern  and  cold  philosophy  of 
the  Stoa,  or  an  utter  blankness  of  despair  concerning 
the  future,  or,  perchance,  a  ((uerulous  .nnd  passionate 
complaining  against  the  gods — shows  how  the  races 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  met  the  awful 
mystery  of  death.  The 'numerous  altars  to  all  the 
fabled  deities  of  the  Pa  theon,  the  vaunting  inscriptions 
and  lofty  attributes  ascribed  to  the  shadowy  brood  of 
Olympus — "  unconquered,  greatest,  and  best  " — read, 
hy  the  light  of  to-day,  like  an  unconscious  satire  on 
the  high  pretensions  of  those  vanished  powers.  The 
fragmentary  edicts  of  the  emperors,  the  numerous  mili- 
tary trophies,  and  the  records  of  complicated  political 
orders,  indi  .te  the  might  and  majesty  of  the  Empire  in 
the  days  of  its  utmost  power  and  splendour. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  corridor  are  the  humble 
epitaphs  of  the  despised  and  persecuted  Christians, 
many  of  which,  by  their  rudeness,  their  brevity,  and 
often  their  marks  of  ignorance  and  haste,  confirm  the 
truth  of  the  Scripture,  that  "  not  many  mighty,  not  many 
noble,  are  called."  Yet  these  "  short  and  simple  annals 
of  the  poor  "  speak  to  the  heart  with  a  power  and  pa- 
thos compared  with  which  the  loftiest  classic  eloquence 
seems  cold  and  empty.  It  is  a  fascinating  task  to  spell 
out  the  sculptured  legends  of  the  Catacombs — the  vast 
graveyard  of  the  primitive  church,  which  seems  to  give 
up  its  dead  at  our  questioning,  to  bear  witness  concern- 
ing the  faith  and  hope  of  the  Golden  Age  of  Christian- 

*  Cf.  Juv.,  "  Gaudent  praenomine  molles  auriculae."      These  are 
very  rare  in  Christian  inscriptions.     See  postea. 


398 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


ity.  As  we  muse  upon  these  half-eflfaced  inscrip- 
tions— 

Rudely  written,  but  each  letter 

Full  of  hope,  and  yet  of  heart-break, 

Full  of  all  the  tender  pathos 

Of  the  Here  and  the  Hereafter— 

we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  the  church  of  the  early 
centuries,  and  are  enabled  to  comprehend  its  spirit  bet- 
ter than  by  means  of  any  other  evidence  extan*^.  These 
simple  epitaphs  speak  no  conventional  language  like  the 
edicts  of  the  emperors,  the  monuments  of  the  mighty, 
or  even  the  writings  of  the  Fathers;  they  utter  the  cry 
of  the  human  heart  in  the  hours  of  its  deepest  emotion ; 
they  bridge  the  gulf  of  time,  and  make  us  feel  ourselves 
akin  with  the  suffering,  sorrowing,  yet  triumphant  Chris- 
tians of  the  primitive  ages. 

These  inscriptions  were  found  in  situ  in  the  explora- 
tions of  the  Caacombs,  or  were  dug  up  in  vineyards  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  city.  They  have  been  diligently 
collected  by  antiquarians  for  the  last  three  hundred 
years.  Before  the  year  1578  there  were  not  a  thousand 
Christian  inscriptions  extant  in  all  Italy.  Of  these  not 
one  was  derived  from  the  Catacombs,  and  the  earliest 
date  was  the  year  533.  With  all  its  boasted  veneration 
for  the  past,  and  professed  devotion  to  the  antiquities 
of  primitive  Christianity,  the  Church  of  Rome  al- 
lowed the  memory  of  the  Catacombs,  the  shrine  and 
sanctuary  of  the  faith  in  the  early  centuries,  to  be  as 
completely  forgotten  as  the  site  of  Troy;  and  even 
after  their  rediscovery  many  of  their  principal  records 
of  the  past  were  wantonly  destroyed  or  recklessly  lost 
through  the  ignorance  or  carelessness  of  their  self-con- 
stituted guardians  and  preservers.  Numerous  invalua- 
ble inscriptions  have  perished  from  the  effects  of  time ; 


I 


Character  of  the  Ittscriptions, 


399 


many  have  been  scattered  throughout  the  public  and 
private  collections  of  P^urope;  and  many  more  have  been 
defaced  or  ruined  by  the  feet  of  generations  of  wor- 
shippers in  the  churches  of  whose  pavements  they 
form  a  part.  Bosio  describes  many  monuments  ex- 
tant in  his  day  of  which  De  Rossi  saw  only  the  frag- 
ments, and  the  latter  pathetically  deplores  the  destruc- 
tion and  devastation  of  those  precious  relics  of  Chris- 
tian antiquity.* 

Christian  epigraphy,  however,  was  not  altogether  ne- 
glected during  the  Middle  Ages.  A  manuscript  col- 
lection of  epitaphs  found  at  F^insiedlen,  ai;d  attributed 
to  the  ninth  century,  is  partly  Christian ;  and  another, 
found  at  Kloster  Newburg,  is  exclusively  so.  A  man- 
uscript in  St.  Mark's  Library  at  Venice  contains  about 
a  hundred  and  fifty  early  Christian  epitaphs.  The 
first  collection  after  the  revival  of  letters  was  m?de  by 
Pietro  Sabini,  and  another  was  published  by  Onofrio  Pan- 
vini.  Leo  X.  commanded  Raphael,  the  capo  architetto 
of  St.  Peter's,  to  preserve  from  injury  the  inscriptions 
— res  lapidaria — of  the  older  structure  ;  but  no  syste- 
matic attempt  at  their  preservation  was  made  till  Bene- 
dict XIV.  appointed  Francesco  Brambini  to  that  task. 
He  collected  a  large  number  in  the  long  gallery  of  the 
Vatican ;  but  they  were  not  arranged  till  the  close  of 
the  last  century,  when  they  were  classified  by  the  dis- 

*  Demolita  et  horrendum  in  modum  vastata. — Prolegomena  to 
Jnscr.  Christ.  He  has  often  to  complain  that  he  is  unable  to  read 
part  of  the  inscription  : — Reliqua  legere  haud  potui.  Marangoni  tells 
us  that  thousands  of  epigraphs  were  taken  from  the  Catacombs  to  the 
church  of  St.  Maria  in  Trastevere  ;  seven  cartloads  to  St.  Giovanni 
de  Fiorentini ;  two  cartloads  to  another  church  of  St.  Giovanni  in 
Rome  ;  yet  there  are  at  present  only  about  twenty  in  the  portico  of 
the  former  and  not  one  in  either  of  the  two  latter  churches.  See  He- 
man's  Sac.  Art,  in  Italy ^  pp.  58,  59. 


! 


I 


/>po 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


t'ng  lished  archaeologist  Geatano  Marini,  at  the  com- 
mand of  Pius  VI.  A  new  collection  was  begun  in  the 
Lateran  Museum  by  Padre  Marchi,  which  has  been 
greatly  enlarged  and  admirably  classified  and  arranged 
by  Cavaliere  De  Rossi.  There  are  also  other  collections 
in  the  Collegio  Romano,  and  in  the  Kircherian  and  other 
Museums.  Many  sepulchral  slabs  are  also  affixed  to 
the  walls  or  inserted  in  the  pavement  of  the  churches 
of  St.  Paul,  St.  Gregory,  St.  Laurence,  St.  Mark,  St. 
Maria  in  Trastevere,  and  in  a  few  others  in  Rome.* 

That  distinguished  scholar  and  epigraphibi,  Dp  Rossi, 
has  passed  through  the  crucible  of  his  critical  examina- 
tion ^11  the  extant  inscriptions  of  the  first  six  centuries 
found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome.  In  the  first 
volume  of  his  Inscriptiones  Christians  he  gives  all 
those  with  consular  dates,  thirteen  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-four in  number.  He  designs  giving  in  future 
volumes  the  remainder  of  the  series,  classified  accord- 
ing to  their  doctrinal,  historical,  or  other  character- 
istics. He  treats  the  subject  with  the  utmost  candour 
and  moderation,  and  illustrates  these  frequently  ob- 
scure topics  with  exhaustive  and  various  scholarship. 
There  are  now  over  eleven  thousand  of  these  epitaphs 
extant,  which  number  is  being  continually  increased 
by  the  progressive  exploration  of  the  Catacombs. 
From  an  analysis  of  their  general  characteristics  and 
appearance  the  following  results  are  derived. 

The  inscriptions  are  generally  engraved  on  marble 
slabs  from  one  to  three  feet  long  and  one  foot  high, 
which  are  used  to  close  the  graves  of  the  dead ;  many, 
however,  are  mere  scratches  on   the   soft  surface    of 

*  The  latter  works  of  Fabretti,  Muratori,  Orelli,  Martigny,  Cardinal 
Mai,  and  Perret  contain  numerous  examples.  These  have  all  been 
laid  under  tribute  in  preparing  these  pages. 


Character  of  the  Inscriptions, 


401 


the  plaster,  hardened  in  drying ;  and  some  are  written 
with  red  or  black  paint,  or,  more  rarely,  with  char- 
coal. The  letters  vary  from  half  an  inch  to  four  inches 
in  height,  and  the  incised  surface  is  frequently  coloured 
with  a  reddish  pigment.  Prudentius,  alluding  to  this 
practice  of  chiseling  the  letters  in  stone,  calls  upon  the 
faithful  to  "  wash  with  their  tears  the  furrows  of  those 
marble  slabs."* 

The  epitaphs  are  for  the  most  part  written  in  uncial 
characters,  frequently  without  any  separation  of  the 
words,f  although  sometimes  they  are  divided  by  spaces, 
points,  or  leaves.  They  frequently  abound  also  in  con- 
tractions and  monogrammatic  abbreviations,  imposed  by 
limit  of  space  or  economy  of  labour,  as  in  the  following 

Fisr.  122.—"  Gemella  sleeps  in  peace.'* 

*  Nos  pio  fletu,  date,  perluamus 
Marmorum  sulcos. — Peristeph.,  hymn  vii. 
f  We  append  the  following  exampld^  by  way  of  illustration  r 
CALEVIVSBENDIDITAVINTRISOMVVBIPOSITIERANT 
VINIETCALVILIVSETLVCIVSINPA. 
Calevius  sold  to  Avinius  a  place  for  three  bodies,  where  both  Cavilius 
and  Lucius  had  (already)  been  placed  in  peace. — De  Rossi,    Inscr, 
Christ.,  No.  489. 

TPIAKONTAnENTAETHCENGAAEKITETnATIA 
eTrATHPANTi2NIOYKQCTANTINOnOAITlCCA. 
Here  lies  Hypatia,  thirty-five  years  of  age,  daughter  of  Antonius, 
a  native  of  Constantinople. — De  Rossi,  No.  583. 

The  originals  are  more  difficult  to  decipher,  but  with  a  little  prac- 
tice it  becomes  comparatively  easy.  Sometimes  the  letters  are  of 
greatly  varying  sizes,  as  in  the  following : 

LocvSavgvStileCToRis. 

The  pkce  of  Augustus,  the  Reader. 

26 


*■      t: 


I 


\k 


402 


The  Cutacombs  of  Rome. 


Although  sometimes  well  cut,  the  inscriptions  are 
often  wretchedly  executed,  presenting  a  straggling  and 
scarce  legible  scrawl,  as  in  the  following  examples,  the 
second  of  which  indicates  a  transition  into  the  later 
cursive  character. 


Vi'^Ts\QS\C$SO\HMl  ■ 


Fifif.  123.—"  Lijrui'ius  Successus,  in  peace.' 


DOMITI 

IN  PACE 

LEA  FECIT. 


Fler.  124.— "Domitius  in  peace.   Lea  erected  this."* 

This  ancient  epigraphy  often  betrays  extreme  igno- 
rance, and  sets  at  defiance  all  the  laws  of  grammatical 
construction.  The  spelling  is  frequently  atrocious,  and 
the  general  style  and  chzfracter  utterly  barbarous,  ren- 
dering the  meaning  extremely  obscure  or  altogether 
undecipherable.  The  language  was  much  corrupted 
by  the  foreigners  and  slaves  who  formed  so  large  a  por- 
tion of  the  population.  The  later  examples  are  often 
marked  by  the  absence  of  termmal  inflexions  and  the 
use  of  prepositions  instead,  and  by  other  indications 
of  the  falling  to  pieces  of  the  stately  Latin  tongue, 
which  had  been  the  vehicle  of  such  a  noble  literature 
and  such  lofty  eloquence,  and  of  its  degeneracy  from 

*  See,  also,  the  uncouthness  of  the  epitaph  of  Martyrus,  Fig.  19, 
and  of  Tesaris,  Fig.  58. 


Character  of  the  Inscriptions. 


403 


the  purity  of  the  Augustan  era  into  the  mixed  dialect 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  from  which  the  modern  Italian  has 
sprung.* 

The  barbarous  Latinity  of  the  following  indicates  the 
degradation  into  which  the  language  had  fallen  : 

IIBER  QVI  VIXl  QVAI  QVO 
PARE  IVA  ANOIVE  I  ANORV 
M  PLVI  MINVI  XXX  I  PACE. 

Read  :  Liber,  qui  vixit  cum  compare  sua  annum  I.  Annorum 
plus  minus  XXX.     In  pace. 

Liber,  who  lived  with  his  wife  one  year.  He  lived  thirty  years, 
more  or  less.     In  peace. 

Sometimes  the  inscription  is  found  upside  down, 
being  probably  thus  placed  by  one  unable  to  read.  In 
the  following  example,  from  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Priscilla, 
a  dove  was  afterward  added,  to  correct  in  part  the  mis- 
take of  the  ignorant  fossor.     Probably  the  epitaph  may 

*  The  distinctions  of  case  gradually  disappear,  the  accusative  and 
genitive  are  often  used  indiscriminately,  and  the  former  is  frequently 
substituted  for  the  ablative,  as  in  the  following  phrases,  cum  uxorem, 
cum  fratrem,  sine  aliquam,  pro  caritatem,  decessit  de  seculum,  etc. 
The  transition  into  Italian  is  indicated  by  the  prefixing  the  letter  1, 
as  in  the  words  ispifitus,  iscribet ;  by  affixing  ^,  zs,  posuete  ior  posuit^ 
and  by  the  general  softening  of  the  pronunciation,  as  santa  for  sanc- 
ta,  meses  for  menses,  and  sesies  for  sexies.  The  names  Stefano  and 
Filipo  have  also  a  very  modem  appearance. 

The  misplacing  of  the  aspirate  is  seen  to  be  by  no  means  a  cock- 
ney peculiarity,  as  in  the  following  examples : — Hossa,  hording,  Hosi- 
ris,  hekphantus,  post  hobitum,  Hoctobris,  heterna,  etc.  In  the  follow- 
ing the  h  is  omitted :  Onorius,  .  t,  wio,  itaris,  ospitium,  onestus^ 
oc,  and  ic.  The  permutation  of  the  letters  /  and  d,  and  v  and  b,  is 
also  common,  as  adque  for  atque,  and  bibit  for  vivit.  We  also  find 
such  forms  as  vicxit,  visit,  bis  sit,  or  visse,  (or  vixit  y  micki  for  mi  hi  ; 
pake  or  pache  for  pace;  opsequia  for  obsequia  ;  quisquenti  for  quies- 
centi  ;  depossio  for  depositio  ;  vocitus  for  vocatus  j  pulla  for  puella  ; 
omniorum  for  omnium  ;  restutus  for  re stitutus  ;  pride  ior  pridie  ; 
que  or  qae  for  quce,  and  the  like.  Many  of  these  peculiarities,  how- 
ever, are  common  to  later  pagan  as  well  as  to  Christian  inscriptions. 


404 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


have  been  scratched  on  the  stone  by  the  dim  light 
struggling  through  a  luminare^  but  when  brought  to  the 
grave  it  was  too  dark  to  see  which  side  was  uppermost. 


3WCiO\cl3lDi'^ 


FifiT.  liJ5.— Inscription  upside  down. 

In  one  example  in  the  Lapidarian  Gallery,  repre- 
sented in  Fig.  126,  the  inscription  is  actually  written 
backwards,  like  Hebrew  text.  Probably,  as  Maitland 
suggests,  the  stonecutter  took  the  impression  on  marble 
from  a  written  copy,  and  was  too  ignorant  to  perceive 
that  it  was,  of  course,  reversed. 

NATIXl\nvpMTN3^NIVAJJ3 

21HipW/WD1/2\2JMl3 
M3favHHATlXIWVi) 

FiGr>  126.— Reversed  Inscription. 

Read  :  Elia  Vincentia.  qui  vixit  an  .  .  .  et  inesis  II,  cum  Virgin- 
is  rue  v'xit  annu  diem. 

£lia  Vincentia,  who  lived  . . .  years  and  two  munths,  and  lived 
with  Virginius  a  year  and  a  day. 

Most  of  the  early  epitaphs  are  of  touching  brevity 
and  simplicity.  Frequently  only  a  single  word,  the 
name  given  in  baptism,  is  recorded  on  the  tomb,  as  in 
Fig.  127,  which  exhibits  also  the  Christian  symbols  of 
the  monogram,  cross,  and  palm. 


Character  of  the  Inscriptions. 


405 


Ci^i^TA 


Pifir.  1 27.—' '  Oassta."  («.f.) 

In  Fig.  128  the  names  of  three  individuals  appear  on 
the  same  slab,  which  is  recogn-  -  ible  as  Christian  only 
by  the  symbol  of  the  Good  Shepherd : 


Figr.  128— "Septlmina,  Aurelius.  Oalymedes." 

Frequently  the  phrase  in  pace,  or  dormit  in  pace, 
is  added,  in  attestation  of  the  Christian  faith  of  the  de- 
ceased, (see  Figs.  122-124;)  or,  more  briefly  still,  the 
word  Locvs  is  prefixed,  as  Locvr  primi — "  The  place  of 
Primus,"*  as  if  descriptive  of  the  last  long  home,  the 
house  appointed  for  all  living. 

The  later  inscriptions  are  frequently  far  removed 
from  this  naive  simplicity,  being  inflated  in  style  and 
elaborate  in  execution,  attesting  the  increased  wealth 
and  growing  pride  of  the  Christian  community.  Of 
these  we  shall  hereafter  ha^e  frequent  examples.  One 
very  remarkable  series  is  that  executed,  under  the  direc- 

*  See  Fig.  45. 


■I. 


4o6 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


tion  of  Pope  Damasus,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth 
century.  He  composed  numerous  metrical  epitaphs  in 
honour  of  the  martyrs,  which  were  engraved  in  marble 
in  a  singularly  elegant  decorated  character,  designed  by 
his  secretary,  Furius  Dionysius  Filocalus,  who  was  also 
an  accomplished  artist.  Hence  the  letters  of  these 
Damasine  inscriptiors  are  as  distinct  a  characteristic 
in  early  Christian  epigraphy  as  the  celebrated  Aldine 
type  in  the  bibliography  of  the  revival  of  learning. 
There  are  few  of  the  Catacombs  where  these  inscrip- 
tions have  not  been  found  ;  and  De  Rossi  has  been 
enabled  thereby  to  reconstruct  some  valuable  historical 
monuments  from  a  few  fragments,  just  as  a  skilful 
anatomist  will  reconstruct  a  skeleton  from  a  portion  of 
the  vertebrae.  Some  of  the  most  important  of  these  have 
already  been  given ;  others  will  hereafter  occur.  The 
Latinity  is  often  of  a  school-boy  mediocrity ;  but  they 
are  of  great  value  as  determining  the  identity  and  eluci- 
dating the  history  of  many  important  Christian  tombs. 

Most  of  the  epitaphs,  as  we  might  naturally  ex- 
pect,, were  written  in  Latin.  Nevertheless,  a  consider- 
able proportion  are  in  Greek,  to  which  circumstance 
several  causer  conduced.  Although  Latin  was  the  lan- 
guage of  the  mass  of  the  Roman  population,  yet  Greek 
was  also  spoken  largely  by  the  educated  classes.  We 
know,  too,  from  the  pages  of  Juvenal*  and  contennporary 
writers,  that  Rome  swarmed  with  numbers  of  slaves  and- 
others  from  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  who,  although  they 
might  be  able  to  speak  Latin,  would  find  it  very  diffi- 
cult to  write  it.  Moreover,  Greek  seems  to  have  been 
in  the  early  centuries  a  sort  of  ecclesiastical  language 
at  Rome,  just  as  Latin  is  now  throughout  Roman  Cath- 

*  See  his  "  Gneculus  esuriens,"  (5WA,  iii,  78,)  and  the  expression, 
*'  In  Tiberem  defluxit  Orontes." — //>.,  62. 


Character  of  the  Inscriptions, 


407 


olic  Christendom.  It  was  in  this  language  that  the  glad 
tidings  of  the  new  evangel  were  frst  declared,  and  in  it 
St.  Paul  wrote  his  epistle  to  the  Roman  church.  The 
new  wine  of  the  gospel  flowed  from  that  classic  chalice 
which  so  long  had  poured  libations  to  the  gods.  Prob- 
ably a  religious  sentiment  led  to  the  adoption,  even  by 
those  to  whom  it  was  unfamiliar,of  the  language  in  which 
their  holiest  teachings  and  highest  hopes  had  been 
originally  conveyed,  and  in  which  the  Apostolic  Fathers 
and  the  greatest  apologists,  theologians,  and  historians 
of  the  early  church  had  fought  the  battles  of  the  faith. 
The  responses  of  the  Roman  liturgy  long  continued  to 
be  uttered  in  this  tongue,  and  traces  of  this  practice 
still  remain  in  the  Kyrie,  eleeson  !  Christe^  eleeson  !  of  the 
Order  of  the  Mass.  This  primitive  Greek  influence 
has  also  left  its  indelible  impression  on  our  language  in 
such  words  as  church,  bishop,  presbyter,  eucharist,  bap- 
tism, catechism,  liturgy,  psalm,  and  hymn. 

Sometimes  the  humble  mourner  had  to  be  content 
with  recording  the  Latin  words  in  Greek  characters, 
as  in  the  following  examples :  AEIBEPE  MASlMIAAE. 
KOlOTrE  AMANTICCIMAE  ♦IKIT  EN  HAKE.  Read  :  Libera 
Maximilla  conjugi  amantissimce,  vixit  in  pace — "  To 
Libera  Maximilla,  a  most  loving  wife.  She  lived  in 
peace."  BENE  MEPENTI  *1AIE  0EOAOPE  KYE  BIEIT 
MHCIC  XI  AIES  XVIII.  Read  :  Bene  merenii  filice  Theo- 
dorce,  qui  vixit  menses  XI ^  dies  XVIII — "  To  our  well- 
deserving  daughter  Theodora,  who  lived  eleven  months 
and  eighteen  days."  * 

In  copying  Latin  inscriptions  many  errors  arose  from 

*  Sometimes  the  two  languages  are  strangely  blended  in  the  same 
epitaph ;  and  occasionally  we  find  a  Greek  inscription  in  Latin  char- 
acters, as  in  the  following :  prima  irene  soi.  Read :  Ilpf/za 
eipijvri  aoi — *'  Prima,  peace  to  thee." 


*     :? 


408 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


the  mason  mistaking  the  Roman  characters  for  similar 
Greek  ones,  as  A  for  A,  T  for  T,  and  the  Latin  H  and  P 
for  the  Greek  £ta  and  RAo.  The  Greek  influence  is  also 
seen  in  the  altered  inflexion  of  Latin  words,  as  maritous 
for  maritoSf  filies  for  filiaSy  and  the  like.  The  proportion 
of  Greek  inscriptions  among  those  before  the  time  of 
Constantine  is  estimated  at  one  eighth.*  After  that 
period  it  is  less,  indicating  the  gradual  decline  of  Greek 
influence.  In  Gaul  and  the  western  provinces  the  pro- 
portion is  not  so  great.  At  Autun  there  is  only  one 
Greek  epitaph. 

Of  the  eleven  thousand  extant  inscriptions  only  thir- 
teen hundred  and  seventy-four  bear  dates.  The 
period  of  the  others  can  be  only  approximately  de- 
termined by  a  comparison  with  those  whose  ages  are 
known ;  by  a  careful  examination  of  the  execution,  lan- 
guage, and  general  sentiment,  those  of  earlier  date  be- 
ing less  florid  and  more  classical  in  style ;  by  the  pres- 
ence or  absence  of  certain  symbols,  as  the  sacred  mon- 
ogram, of  which  no  example  is  known  before  the  period 
of  Constantine ;  and  by  the  position  in  the  Catacombs, 
those  in  the  lower //aw  being  of  later  date. 

Judging  by  these  criteria,  De  Rossi  has  arrived  at 
the  following  conclusions:  About  six  thousand  of  the 
epitaphs  belong  to  the  first  four  centuries,  and  are 
from  the  Catacombs  ;  the  rest  were  found  above  ground. 
Of  these  six  thousand,  about  four  thousand  are  before 
the  year  324  A.  D.,  when  Constantine  became  sole  em- 
peror. 

Only  on^  of  the  dated  inscriptions  belongs  to  the  first 
century,  (A.  D.  71,)  two  are  of  the  second,  (A.  D.  107  and 

*  In  the  dated  inscriptions  the  proportion  is  less,  as  the  I^atin- 
speaking  Christians  would  be  the  more  likely  to  employ  the  consular 
dates  as  indications  of  time. 


Character  of  the  Inset  iptions. 


409 


III,)  and  twenty-three  of  the  third;  the  fourth  century 
is  represented  by  over  five  hundred ;  the  fifth  by  nearly 
as  many ;  the  sixth  by  about  three  hundred,  principally 
in  its  earlier  half;  and  the  seventh  by  only  seven. 

Of  these  dated  inscriptions,  all  before  the  year  313 
A.  D.,  when  the  edict  of  Milan  gave  peace  to  the  church, 
are  from  the  Catacombs.  After  that  event  subterranean 
sepulture  rapidly  decreased.  Of  the  epitaphs  bear- 
ing dates  between  the  years  313  A.  D.  and  337  A.  D., 
two  thirds  are  from  the  Catacombs,  and  one  third  from 
the  basilicas  and  other  places  of  burial  above  ground. 
From  A.  D.  337  to  the  time  of  Julian  the  proportion  of 
each  was  about  equal.  Of  the  dated  inscriptions  of 
the  last  quarter  of  this  century,  about  one  fourth  are 
subterranean.  Of  those  between  the  years  A.  D.  400 
and  A.  D.  410,  not  one  in  ten  is  from  the  Catacombs, 
and  after  that  period  not  one  subterranean  example 
occurs.*  Sometimes,  in  epitaphs  of  late  date,  the  name 
of  the  church  and  the  position  of  the  tomb  are  men- 
tioned, as   in  the    following :    depositvs   in   basilica 

SANCTORVM  NASARI  ET    NABORIS   SECVNDV  ARCV    IVXTA 

FENESTRA,  (A.  D.  404,) — "  Buried  in  the  basilica  of  Sts. 
Nasarius  and  Nabor,  in  the  second  arch  near  the  win- 
dow; "    DEPOSITA  IN  CONTRA  COLONNA  VII,  (A.  D.  452,) 

— "  Buried  in  the  space  opposite  the  seventh  column." 
The  Christian  era  was  not  adopted  as  a  note  of  time 
till  after  the  sixth  century.     The  dates  of  the  Roman 
inscriptions  were  therefore  indicated  by  the  names  of 
the  consuls  for  the  year,  generally  written  in  an  abbre- 


hf 


*  Of  the  four  hundred  Gaulish  inscriptions  in  Le  Blant  few  bear 
dates,  and  of  these  none  are  earlier  than  the  time  of  Constantine. 
The  first  is  of  the  year  A.  D.  334  ;  the  next,  at  Autun,  of  the  year 
A.  D.  374.  They  are  also  more  artificial  and  rhetorical  in  style  than 
those  of  Rome. 


I  il 


4IO 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


viated  form.*  Frequently  the  addition  VC,  for  Vir 
Ciarissimus — "  An  illustrious  man  " — or,  in  the  case  of 
imperial  consuls,  DN.,  for  Dominus  Noster — **  Our  Lord  " 
— also  occurs.f  In  one  instance  the  epithet  divvs — "  Di- 
vine " — assumed  by  the  emperors,  is  employed  in  a  Chris- 
tian epitaph,  in  unthinking  imitation  of  a  heathen  formula. 

This  mode  of  indicating  dates,  to  which  the  name 
hypatic  (from  vnaro^,  consul)  has  been  applied,  con- 
tinued in  vogue  till  the  latter  part  of  the  sixth  century, 
and  is  the  last  recognition  of  that  venerable  institution, 
the  Roman  consulate.  The  year  of  the  emperor,  which 
was  enjoined  by  Justinian,  A.  D.  537,  for  the  dating  of 
all  public  acts,  appears  after  that  time. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  fourth  century  th'^  date  is 
sometimes  indicated  by  the  name  of  the  presiding  bishop 
of  the  church  at  Rome,  as  svb  liberio  episcopo,  svb 

DAMASO    EPISCOPO,  Or  TEMPORIBVS    SANCTl    INNOCENTII, 

the  last  expression  used  probably  after  the  death  of  the 
pope  named.  The  names  of  the  bishops  of  other  dio- 
ceses than  that  of  Rome  are  also  used,  an  indication  of 
the  parity  of  episcopal  rank  in  the  primitive  ages.  Thus 
we  have  in  the  year  A.  D.  397  the  name  pascasio  epis- 
copo, according  to  De  Rossi,  probably  the  bishop  of  an 
ancient  diocese  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  city. 
In  the  sixth  century  the  names  of  certain  priests,  and 
even  deacons,  were  used  as  local  marks  of  time. 

In  a  large  number  of  inscriptions  the  day  of  the 
month  is  mentioned,  although  the  year  is  not.     Cardinal 

*  For  example  •  POL  •  II  •  ET  •  APR  •  II  •  COS,  which,  expanded,  reads 
thus:  Pollione  iterum  et  Apro  iterum  Consuiidus, that  is,  176  A.  D. 
LFABCILMANN-LIB  COS— Lucto  Fabio  Ciloru,  Marco 
Annio  Libone  Consulibus,  that  is,  204  A.  D.  To  save  space  we  have 
generally  omitted  the  names  of  the  consuls,  giving  merely  the  date, 
f  Sometimes  we  have  the  forms  VVCC,  Viri  Clarissimi ;  DD. 
NX..  Domini  Nostri ;  and  AVGG.,  or  AAVVGG.,  Auguiti. 


Character  of  the  Inscriptions. 


411 


Wi'^eman  attributes  this  to  the  custom  of  commemorating 
the  anniversary  of  the  death  of  the  departed  as  that  of 
his  birth  into  a  higher  life.*  Hut  a  similar  usage  is  ob- 
served also  in  pagan  epitaphs;  and  Dr.  McCaul  has 
well  remarkedf  that  it  is  the  day  of  burial  that  is  men- 
tioned more  frecjuently  than  that  of  death.  The  date 
of  birth  is  seldom  given,!  ^'"^  ^^^  length  of  life  is  almost 
invariably  indicated,  frequently  with  great  minuteness. 
Not  only  are  the  number  of  years,  months,  and  days 
mentioned,  but  often,  with  loving  exactness,  the  hours, 
half-hours,  and  even  the  "  scruples  "  or  twenty-fourths 
of  an  hour,  as  in   the   following    example  :    bene  me- 

RENTI  IN  PACE  SILVANA  QVAE   HlC     DORMIT     VIXIT    ANN. 

XXI.  MENS.  III.  HOR.  IV.  scRVPLOs  VI. — "  To  the  well- 
deserving  Silvana,  who  sleeps  here  in  peace.  She  lived 
twenty-one  years,  three  months,  four  hours,  and  six 
scruples."     Six  scruples  are  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

When  the  exact  number  of  years  was  unknown,  the  ex- 
pressions PLV;s  MINVS,  nAEON  EAATTON— "more  or  less  " 
— were  used.||     Frequently  the  duration  of  married  life 

*  Fabiola,  p.  146. 

\  Christian  Epitaphs,  Introd.,  p.  xxii,  note  f .  We  are  indebted  to 
this  masterly  prolegomena  for  several  of  the  illustrations  cited. 

\  In  one  example  it  is  minutely  indicated  thus  :  Ora  noctis-  IIII. 
•  •  •  VIII  Idus  Madias  die  Saturnis  luna  vigesima  Slqno  Apiorno, — 
"  In  the  fourth  hour  of  the  night,  the  eighth  day  before  the  Ides  of 
May,  the  twentieth  day  of  the  Moon,  in  the  sign  of  Capricorn." 
De  Rossi  regards  this  as  an  astrological  horoscope — a  relic  of  heathen 
superstition. 

I  The  greatest  age  we  have  observed  in  Christian  epitaphs  is  nine- 
ty-one years.  See  Fig.  19.  The  youngest  is  three  months — Mens. 
III.  We  have  noticed  in  Muratori  (p.  382,  No.  5)  the  following  re- 
markable instance  of  longevity :  M.  Flavius  Secundus  filius  feci* 
Flavio  Secundo  patri  q.  vixit  ann.  CXI  I,  et  Flavia  Urbana  matri 
pia  vixit  ann.  CV. — "  M.  Flavius  Secundus,  the  son,  made  this  to  Fla- 
vius Secundus,  his  father,  who  lived  one  hundred  and  twelve  years, 
and  to  his  pious  mother,  (who)  lived  one  hundred  and  five  years." 


i 


If 


I  ■    ' 


■>■  I 


: 


412 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


is  also  mentioned  with  extreme  definiteness,  as  in  the 
following:*   silvana  niciati  marito  bene  merenti 

CVM    QVO   VIXIT   ANNIS    TRIBVS    MANSIBVS   DVABVS    HORIS 

UNDECIM,  —  **  Silvana  to  her  well-deserving  husband 
Niciatis,  with  whom  she  lived  three  years,  two  months, 
eleven  hours. 

The  day  of  the  month  is  generally  indicated  in  the 
ordinary  way  with  reference  to  the  divisions  of  Calends, 
Nones,  and  Ides.f  The  days  of  the  week  are  men- 
tioned by  their  usual  classical  names,  as  Dies  SoliSy 
Sunday  ;  VUs  Lunie^  Monday  ;  Dies  Mariis,  I'uesday  ; 
Z>/>j  if/^rr///-//,  Wednesday  ;  Dies  Jovis^  Thursday;  Dies 
Veneris^  Friday  ;  and  Dies  Saturni^  Saturday.  Some- 
times, however,  the  first  and  last  days  of  the  week  are  in- 
dicated by  the  Christian  designations  Dies  Dominica^  the 
day  of  the  Lord,  and  Dies  Sabbati^  the  day  of  rest. 

The  Christian  inscriptions  also  habitually  ignore  all 
mention  of  the  birth-place  or  country  of  the  deceased, 
as  if  in  recognition  that  the  Christian's  true  country  is 
beyond  the  grave.J  As  if,  also,  in  obedience  to  the  in- 
junction to  forsake  father  and  mother  in  order  to  follow 
after  Christ,  details  of  family  or  descent,  which  are  so 

Kenrick  quotes  an  epitaph  of  a  child  of  three  and  his  mother 
{mammula)  of  eighty  ;  and  another  of  a  man  of  one  hundred  and 
two  years,  ninety  of  which  were  passed  without  disease.  The  aver- 
age duration  of  life,  according  to  Ulpian,  was  thirty  years. 

*  The  relationship  is  generally  expressed  by  such  phrases  as  vixit 
mecum,  duravit  mecum,  vixit  in  conjugio,  fecit  mecum,  fecit  cum 
compare.     McCaul,  Christ.  Epitaphs,  Introd.  xv. 

f  lb.,  xxvii. 

\  Of  5,000  epitaphs  in  Squier's  Index,  only  forty-five  mention  the 
country  of  the  deceased.  See  one  example,  page  401,  second  foot- 
note, and  also  the  following,  of  date  A.  D.  388 :  Rapetiga,  medicus, 
civis  Hispanus,  qui  vixit  in  pace  annos  plus  minus  XXV, — "  Rapc- 
tiga,  a  physician,  a  citizen  of  Spain,  who  lived  in  peace  twenty-five 
years,  more  or  less." 


Character  of  the  Inscriptions, 


413 


conspicuous  in  somo  heathen  inscriptions,  almost  never 
occur. 

Mr.  Burgon  has  briefly  expressed  the  principal  points 
of  contrast  between  modern  epitaphs  and  those  of  the 
early  Christians,  as  follows :  "  They  never  mention  the 
date  of  birth,*  we  seldom  omit  it.  They  constantly 
record  the  day  of  burial,  we  never.  They  seldom  men- 
tion the  year  of  death,  we  never  omit  it.  We  tiever 
allude  to  burial,  they  always.  They  frequently  record 
the  years  of  married  life,  we  never.  In  theirs  the  sur- 
vivors appear  prominently,  even  by  name,  and  are  some- 
times mentioned  exclusively.  With  us  the  dead  are 
always  named,  the  living  seldom."  f 

There  are  among  these  inscriptions  several  examples 
of  opisthographa^  as  they  are  called,t  that  is,  Christian 
epitaphs  written  on  slabs  that  had  originally  borne  one 
of  pagan  character.  The  latter  are  generally  defaced  or 
obliterated,  filled  with  cement  or  turned  to  the  wall,  or 
placed  upside  down  or  sideways,  so  as  to  indicate  their 
rejection  by  the  Christian  artist.  Sometimes,  however, 
they  are  still  legible,  but  they  have  manifestly  no  con- 
nection with  Christian  sepulture  whatever.  Some  are  not 
funeral  epitaphs  at  all,  and  some  which  are  commemo- 
rate an  entire  family,  though  affixed  to  a  single  Christian 
grave.  The  appropriation  of  heathen  monuments  for 
the  reception  of  Christian  inscriptions  will  appear  less 
strange  when  we  reflect  that  the  very  temples  of  the 
gods  have  been  the  quarries  from  which  many  of  the 
churches  and  palaces  of  later  times  were  built. 

Sometimes,  as  in  the  example  given  in  Fig.  59,  the 
heathen  formula  of  consecration  to  the  "  Divine  Spirits  " 

♦  This  is  not  quite  correct. 

f  Letters  from  Rome,  pp.  202,  203. 

\  From  6^10610^  and  }fM(piJ,  to  write  again. 


' 


w 


•  f 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


n 


— D.  M.,  for  Dis  Manibus — is  obliterated,  and  the  sacred 
monogram  gives  the  slab  a  Christian  character.  Occa- 
sionally, however,  these  letters  appear  in  manifestly  Chris- 
tian inscriptions,  in  which  case  Fabretti  and  others  have 
maintained  that  they  were  capable  of  the  interpretation 
Deo  Magno  or  Deo  Maximo — "  To  the  Supreme  God." 
With  still  less  probability  M.  Rochette  renders  them 
Divis' Marty ribus — "  To  the  divine  martyrs,"  for  which 
expression  no  countenance  is  to  be  found  in  the  entire 
range  of  the  Catacombs.  Both  interpretations  are  en- 
entirely  gratuitous  suppositions,  for  which  Christian 
epigraphy  furnishes  absolutely  no  warrant.  It  is 
more  probable  that  they  were  careless  or  conventional 
imitations  of  a  common  heathen  formula,  which  was 
occasionally  adopted  by  the  Christians  without  thought, 
or  perhaps  in  ignorance  of  its  meaning,  just  as  they  also 
imi^^ated  the  winged  genii  and  other  classic  accessories 
of  pagan  art  in  the  ornamentation  of  the  Catacombs. 
Dr.  McCaul  has  suggested  that  the  Roman  mortuary 
sculptors  probably  kept  sepulchral  slabs  on  sale,  as  is 
often  done  now,  with  the  common  formulae  already  en- 
graved, which  were  purchased  without  regard  to  their  ap- 
propriateness, and  that  in  filling  up  the  inscription  the 
Christians  sometimes  neglected  to  obliterate  the  letters 
of  pagan  significance.  Possibly,  also,  some  lingering 
remnants  of  heathen  superstition  may  sometimes  be  in- 
dicated by  their  use. 

The  letters  BM.,  which  frequently  occur  in  these 
inscriptions,  have  been  erroneously  interpreted  as  stand- 
ing for  Beatus  or  Beata  Martyr^  for  which  there  is  no 
authority  whatever.  They  unquestionably  indicate  the 
ever-recurring  phrase,  both  in  pagan  and  Christian 
epigraphy.  Bene  Merenti — "To  the  well-deserving,"  or 
Boncd  Memoricc — "  Of  happy  memory." 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings. 


41S 


CHAPTER   II. 


THE  DOCTRINAL  TEACHINGS  OF  THE  CATACOMBS. 


"  What  insight  into  the  familiar  feelings  and  thoughts 
of  the  primitive  ages  of  the  church,"  remarks  the  learned 
and  eloquent  Dean  Stanley,*  "  can  be  compared  with 
that  afforded  by  the  Roman  Catacombs !  Hardly  no- 
ticed by  Gibbon  or  Mosheim,  they  yet  give  us  a  likeness 
of  those  early  times  beyond  that  derived  from  any  of 
the  written  authorities  on  which  Gibbon  and  Mosheim 
repose.  .  .  .  The  subjects  of  the  painting  and  sculpture 
place  before  us  the  exact  ideas  with  which  the  first 
Christians  were  familiar  ;  they  remind  us,  by  what  they 
do  not  contain,  of  the  ideas  with  which  the  first  Chris- 
tians were  not  familiar.  .  .  .  He  who  is  thoroughly 
steeped  in  the  imagery  of  the  Catacombs  will  be  nearer 
to  the  thought  of  the  early  church  than  he  who  has 
learned  by  heart  the  most  elaborate  treatise  even  of 
Tertullian  or  of  Origen." 

By  the  study  of  the  inscriptions,  paintings,  and  sculp- 
ture of  this  subterranean  city  of  the  dead,  we  may  fol- 
low the  development  of  Christian  thought  from  century 
to  century ;  we  may  trace  the  successive  changes  of  doc- 
trine and  discipline ;  we  may  read  the  irrefragable  tes- 
timony, written  with  a  pen  of  iron  in  the  rock  forever, 
of  the  purity  of  the  primitive  faith,  and  of  the  gradual 
corruption  which  it  has  undergone. 

In  this  era  of  critical  investigation  of  the  very  founda- 
tions of  the  faith  it  will  be  well  to  examine  this  vast  body 

♦  Eastern  Churches. 


i 


'V-:.I 


m 


4i5 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


of  Christian  evidences  as  to  the  doctrinal  teachings  of 
the  primitive  times,  which  has  been  handed  down  from 
the  believers  living  in  or  near  the  apostolic  age,  and 
thus  providentially  preserved  in  these  subterranean 
excavations,  as  a  perpetual  memorial  of  the  faith  and 
practice  of  the  golden  prime  of  Christianity. 

While  we  should  not  expect  to  find  in  these  inscrip- 
tions a  complete  system  of  theology,  we  would  certainly 
look  for  some  definite  expression  regarding  the  religious 
belief  of  those  who  wrote  these  memorials  of  the  dead. 
We  would  expect  some  reference  to  the  lives  of  the 
departed,  to  the  virtues  of  their  character,  and  to  the 
hopes  of  the  survivors  as  to  their  future  condition  in 
the  spirit-world.  In  this  expectation  we  are  not  disap- 
pointed. We  find  in  these  epitaphs  a  body  of  evi- 
dence on  the  doctrines  and  discipline  of  the  primitive 
church,  whose  value  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  over- 
estimate. We  are  struck  with  the  infinite  contrast  of 
their  sentiment  to  that  of  the  pagan  sepulchral  mon- 
uments, and  also  by  the  conspicuous  absence,  in  those 
of  the  early  centuries'  and  purer  period  of  Christianity, 
of  the  doctrines  by  which  the  church  of  Rome  is  char- 
acterized. We  shall  also  find  references  to  some  of  the 
heresies,  which,  like  plague  spots,  alas !  so  soon  began 
to  infect  the  church,*  and  some  of  which  even  found 
distinguished  ecclesiastical  patronage. f 

The  Church  of  Rome  lays  especial  claim  to  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  early  ages  and  the  antiquities  of  the  Cat- 
acombs as   proofs  of  the    apostolic   character  of    her 


*  Tertullian  says  they  destroy  the  soul  as  fevers  do  the  body. — De 
Prcexcrip.  Htereticorum,  c.  2. 

f  The  Gnostic  Marcion  sought  admission  to  the  Romar  presbyter)', 
and  Valentine  even  aspired  to  the  •^f  iscopal  chair.  "  Speraverat  epis* 
copatum  Valentinus." — Tertull.,  Adv.  Valent.y  c.  iv. 


Their  Doctrinal  Teiuhings. 


417 


peculiar  dogmas  and  usages.  But  these  ancient  records 
are  a  palimpsest  which  she  has  written  all  over  with  her 
own  glosses  and  interpretations;  and  when  the  ordeal 
of  modern  criticism  revives  the  real  documents  and  re- 
moves the  accumulation  of  error,  the  testimony  of  the 
past  is  strikingly  opposed  to  the  pretensions  of  the  Ro- 
man See  and  the  teachings  of  Romish  doctrine.  Th% 
distinguished  scholarship,  laborious  research,  and  ar- 
chaeological skill  of  such  eminent  authorities  as  De 
Rossi,  Pitra,  Garrucci,  and  other  Roman  savants^  only 
furnish  the  weapons  for  the  refutation  of  many  of  Rome's 
most  cherished  beliefs.  There  are  those,  indeed,  who 
carry  to  these  investigations  the  faculty  of  seeing  what 
they  wish  to  see,  and  what  no  others  can  perceive.  It  not 
unfrequently  happens,  also,  that  extreme  credulity  and 
superstition  are  found  united  with  great  learning  and  high 
scientific  attainments.  The  effect,  however,  of  the  honest 
examination  of  this  testimony  by  a  candid  mind  is  seen 
in  the  case  of  Mr,  Hemans,  the  learned  author  of  "  An- 
cient Christianity  and  Sacred  Art  in  Italy."  This  gen- 
tleman, although  a  pervert  from  the  Anglican  communion 
to  that  of  Rome,  and  in  strong  sympathy  with  many  of  its 
institutions,  as  is  apparent  from  his  interesting  volume, 
felt  compelled  by  the  historical  and  monumental  testi- 
mony of  the  Catacombs,  and  of  early  Christian  art  and 
literature,  to  retrace  his  steps,  and,  however  reluctantly, 
to  condemn  and  abandon  «.he  faith  he  had  espoused. 

Protestantism,  therefore,  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
closest  investigation  of  these  evidences  of  primitive 
Christianity.  They  offer  no  warrant  whatever  for  the 
characteristic  doctrines  and  practice  of  the  modern 
Church  of  Rome.  There  is  not  a  single  inscription,  nor 
painting,  nor  sculpture,  before  the  middle  of  the  fourth 

century,  that  lends  the  least  countenance  to  her  arrogant 

27 


I! 


Ji 


4i8 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


assumptions  and  erroneous  dogmas.  All  previous  to  this 
date  are  remarkable  for  their  evangelical  character;  and 
it  is  only  after  that  period  that  the  distinctive  peculiarities 
of  Romanism  begin  to  appear.  The  wholesome  breath 
of  persecution  and  the  "  sweet  uses  of  adversity  "  in  the 
early  ages  tended  to  preserve  the  moral  purity  of  the 
church  ;  but  the  enervating  influence  of  imperial  favour, 
and  the  influx  of  wealth  and  luxury,  led  to  corruptions 
of  practice  and  errors  of  doctrine.  Her  trappings  of 
worldly  pomp  and  power  were  a  Nessus  garment  which 
empoisoned  her  spiritual  life.  Hence  the  Catacombs, 
the  rude  cradle  of  the  early  faith,  became  also  the 
grave  of  much  of  its  simplicity  and  purity. 

In  the  investigation  of  early  Christian  epigraphy, 
therefore,  the  determination  of  dates  is  of  the  utmost 
importance,  as  it  is  only  inscriptions  of  the  earlier  and 
acknowledged  purer  period  of  the  church  which  can 
bear  authoritative  testimony  as  to  primitive  doctrine. 
We  shall,  therefore,  first  examine  in  chronological  order 
all  those  bearing  dates  earlier  than  the  fourth  century 
which  have  any  doctrinal  significance,  and  then  glean 
the  evidence  of  later  examples  as  to  the  antiquity  of 
Romanist  teachings.  We  will  take  the  inscriptions  as 
given  in  his  great  work,*  by  De  Rossi,  the  most  eminent 
authority  on  this  subject ;  but  while  accepting  his  facts, 
and  acknowledging  his  candour  and  honesty  of  research, 
which  qualities  we  will  seek  to  imitate,  we  cannot  in  all 
cases  accept  his  conclusions. 

The  first  dated  inscription  possessing  any  doctrinal 
character  occurs  in  the  year  2i7.f  It  is  taken  from  a 
large  sarcophagus  found  in  the  Via  Labicana,  and  is  of 

* Inscriptiones  Christiana  Urbis Romce  Septimo  Saculo  Antiquiores. 
f  The  earlier  inscriptions  express  merely  the  consular  dates,  and  in 
one  instance  only,  the  name  and  age  of  the  deceased. 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings. 


419 


great  interest  as  indicating  the  lofty  social  position  and 
honourable  offices  of  the  deceased  as  a  member  of  the 
imperial  household,  as  wel^  as  the  devout  confidence  of 
his  pious  freedmen  in  his  spiritual  beatification.  The 
upper  portion  of  the  following  inscription,  that  in  larger 
type,  is  engraved  on  the  front  of  the  sarcophagus,  and 
that  in  smaller  characters  on  the  back.  The  use  of  a 
sarcophagus  '^  an  indication  of  the  wealth  of  the 
decease  J. 

M- AVRELIO*  AVGG 'LIB- PROSENETI 

A  CVBICVLO'AVG* 
PROC'THESAVRORV  M 
PROC'PATRIMONI.  PROC* 
MVNERVM.  PROC'VINORVM 
ORDINATOADIVO  COMMODO 
IN  KASTREN8E  PATRONO  PlISSIMO 
LIBERT  I  •  B  ENEMERENTI 
SARCOPHAGVM  DE  SVO» 
ADORNAVERVNT' 


FROSENES   RECEPTVS   ADDEVM  •  V  •  NGN SSA NIA 

[PRAESENTE  •  ET  •  EXTRICATO  •  II 
REGREDIENS  IN  VRBE  AB   EXPEDITI     ONIBVS     SCRIPSIT       AM 

[PELIVS   LIB. 

— Inscrip.  Christ.,  No.  5. 

To  Marcus  Aurelius  Prosenes,  freedman  of  the  two  Augusti,  of  the 
bed-chamber  of  Augustus,  Procurator  of  the  Treasures,  Procurator 
of  the  Patrimony,  Procurator  of  the  Presents,  Procurator  of  the 
Wines,  appointed  by  the  deified  Commodus  to  duty  in  the  camp,  a 
most  affectionate  Patron.  For  him,  well-deserving,  his  freedmen  pro- 
vided (this)  sarcophagus  at  their  own  cost. 

Prosenes  received  to  God,  on  the  fifth  day  before  the  Nones 
of —    Proesens  and  Extricatus  (being  consuls)  for  the  second  tim 

Ampclius  his  freedman,  returning  to  the  city  from  the  wars,  wrote 
(this  inscription.) 


420 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


We  have  here  the  earliest  indication  of  doctrinal  be- 
lief as  to  the  condition  of  the  departed.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, a  dark  and  gloomy  apprehension  of  purgatorial 
fires,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  joyous  confidence  of  im- 
mediate reception  into  the  presence  of  God.*  The 
retention  of  the  pagan  title  of  the  emperor,  "  the  dei- 
fied Commodus,"  is  an  anomalous  feature  in  a  Christian 
monument,  although  doubtless  it  is  merely  the  unthink- 
ing imitation  of  a  common  epigraphic  formula. 

Accompanying  an  inscription  of  date  A.  D.  234,  is 
the  first  example  of  the  symbols,  afterward  so  common, 
the  fish  and  the  anchor,  but  no  other  distinctively  Chris- 
tian feature.  In  the  next  year,  A.  D.  235,  occurs  the  fol- 
lowing epitaph,  in  which  there  is  possibly  an  intimation 
of  immortality  in  the  expression  de  saculo  recessit — "  re- 
tired from  the  world,"  or  "from  the  age."f     avrelia 

DVLCISSIMA  FILIA  QVAE  DE  SAECVLO  RfiCESSIT  VIXIT 
ANN  •  XV  •  M  •  nil  •  SEVERO     ET    QVINTIN   COSS, "  Aure- 

lia,  our  very  sweet  daughter,  who  retired  from  the  world, 
Severus  and  Quintinus  being  consuls.  She  lived  fifteen 
years  and  four  months."  The  epithet  "very  sweet 
daughter "  is  peculiarly  appropriate  to  the  Christian 
character,  although  common  also  on  pagan  tombs. 

In  the  year  A.  D.  238,  on  a  sarcophagus  which  bears 
the  first  dated  representation  of  the  Good  Shepherd, 
we  find  the  following  touching  inscription.  It  conveys 
nothing  doctrinal  beyond  the  phrase  "  most  devout,"  or 
"  God-loving,"  expressive  of  the  youthful  piety  of  the 

*  Dr.  McCaul  remarks  the  occurrence  of  a  simiiar  expression  in 
a  pagan  inscription  given  by  Muratori,  (978, 979,)  as  follows :  D.  M.  in 
hoc  tumulo  jacet  corpus  exanimis  (sic)  cujus  spiritus  inter  deos  re- 
ceptus  est ;  sicenim  meruit, — "  In  this  tomb  lies  a  lifeless  body  whose 
spirit  is  received  among  the  gods,  for  so  it  deserved." 

f  The  use  of  recedo  in  the  sense  of  "  to  die  "  is  classical ;  but  in 
the  above  form  it  is  unknown  in  pagan  epigraphy. 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings. 


421 


deceased.       hpakaitoc    o     eKO*iAECTATOC    ezhcen 

ET(j?)H  HAPA  H(/ifpaf)  IT*  ENOCHCEN  HM(OP(«i)  IB  ...  . 
SAN0IAC  DATHP  TEKNQ  TATKYTEPfl  *i2rOC  KAl  ZQHC 
— "The  very  devout  Heraclitus  lived  eight  years  and 
thirteen  days.  He  was  ill  twelve  days  .  .  .  Xanthias 
his  father,  to  his  son,  sweeter  than  light  and  life." 
The  mention  of  the  duration  of  the  illness  is  very 
rare  in  these  epitaphs.  The  yearning  affection  of  the 
bereaved  father  is  beautifully  expressed  in  the  last 
clause. 

The  next  example  merely  gives  the  consular  date, 
A.  D.  249,  and  the  assurance  that  the  deceased  sleeps, 
DORMiT — a  distinctively  Christian  synonym  for  death. 
In  the  year  A.  D.  268  occurs  a  fragment  on  which  one 
may  with  difficulty  decipher  the  inscription  by  the  pa- 
rents "  to  their  well-deserving  son,  who  lived  twelve 
years  and  elev^en  months."  The  chief  interest  attaches 
to  the  last  line  :  vibas  inter  Sanctis  (j/V)  iha — "  May 
you  live  among  the  holy  ones." 

The  meaning  of  the  last  three  letters  is  unknown. 
They  have  been  interpreted  as  standing  for  in  pace  or 
et  have  J  but  the  last  rarely,  if  ever,  occurs  in  Christian 
epigraphy.  Dr.  McCaul  ingeniously  conjectures  that 
the  last  word  is  intended  for  sanetissimas,  or  "  most  holy 
ones,"  the  h  being  an  ill  cut  m.  This  natural  ejaculation 
of  the  sorrowing  friends,  of  which  we  shall  find  occasional 
examples,  is  certainly  no  indication  of  the  later  Romish 
practice  of  prayers  for  the  dead,  or  of  the  intercession  of 
the  saints.  On  this  slab  are  also  the  first  known  exam- 
ples of  the  dove,  olive  branch,  and  vase. 

The  next  dated  inscription,  of  the  year  269,  A.  D.,  is 
of  a  very  barbarous  character — Latin  words  in  Greek 
letters,  not  engraved,  but  merely  painted  on  the  slab. 
It  is  evidently,  as  is  indicated  by  its  wretched  grammar 


I 


'  i 


ii 


:i 


422 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


and  orthography,  the  production  of  extreme  ignorance. 
It  requires  a  strong  dogmatic  prepossession  to  detect  in 
its  incoherent  language  any  meaning  beyond  the  attes- 
tation of  the  sanctity  of  character  of  the  deceased. 

After  giving  the  date,  it  reads  thus :  AETKEC  .  WAEIE  . 
CEBHPE  .  KAPECCEME  •  noCOTETE  .  EA  •  ElCnEIPEHa  . 

CANKTO  •  TOTQ  •  Read,  Leuces  filia  Severa  carissima 
posuit  et  spiritui  sancto  tuo^ — "  Leuces  erected  this  (me- 
morial) to  her  very  dear  daughter,  and  to  thy  {sic) 
holy  spirit." 

Nothing  further  of  a  doctrinal  character  occurs  till 
th6  year  291,  when  we  find  the  following  barbarous  ex- 
ample. The  grammar  and  spelling  are  atrocious,  and 
the  division  of  the  words  quite  arbitrary :  ex  virgineo 

TVO  BENE  MECO  VIXISTI  LIB  ENIC  ONIVGA  INNOCENTISSE 
MACERVONIA    SILVANA     REFRIGERA  CVM  SPIRITA  SANCTA. 

Read,  Ex  Virginia  tuo  bene  mecum  vixisti  libens  in  conjuga 
innocentissima  Macervonia  Silvana.  Refrigera  cum  spir- 
itis  Sanctis — "  Macervonia  Silvana,  thou  didst  live  well 
with  me  from  thy  maidenhood,  rejoicing  in  most 
innocent  wedlock.  Refresh  (thyself)  among  the  holy 
spirits." 

No  candid  interpretation  can  discover  in  the  closing 
acclamation  any  thing  beyond  the  natural  expression 
of  a  desire  for  the  happiness  of  the  departed  among  the 
sanctified. 

There  is  nothing,  therefore,  in  any  of  the  inscriptions 
of  the  first  three  centuries — the  ages  of  the  purity  of  the 
faith — which  can  in  the  least  degree  support  the  assump- 
tions of  Roman  controversialists  as  to  the  antiquity  of 
Romish  dogmas.  Nor  is  there  any  indication  of  those 
dogmas  till  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  century,  as  will 
be  evident  from  a  brief  examination  of  the  principal 
inscriptions  having  any    reference  to  doctrine   before 


Their  Doctrinal  1  cachings. 


423 


that  period.  In  the  year  A.  D.  302  we  find  the  follow- 
ing beautiful  tribute  of  conjugal  and  filial  affection, 
which  only,  however,  attests  the  high  Christian  char- 
acter of  the  deceased :  domino  patri  piissimo  ac  dvl- 

CISSIMO     SECVNDO    VXOR    ET   FILII  PRO    PIETATE    POSVE- 

RVNT — "  To  the  highly  venerable,  most  devout,  and  very 
sweet  father,  Secundus.  His  wife  and  sons  in  expres- 
sion of  their  dutifulness  have  placed  this  slab." 

In  the  year  A.  D.  310,  in  the  epitaph  of  a  youth 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  we  find  the  beautiful  euphe- 
mism for  death,  AccESiirvs  ab  angelis — "  Called  away 
(literally,  sent  for)  by  angels."  There  is  no  doctrine  of 
purgatory  here.  The  Christian  soul,  like  Lazarus,  is 
borne  by  angels  to  Abraham's  bosom,  and  not,  like  Dives, 
to  tormenting  flames,  albeit  called  of  purgatorial  efficacy 
to  supplement  the  work  of  Christ.  In  A.  D.  329  oc- 
curs the  still  nobler  expression,  natvs  est  lavrentivs 

IN    ETERNVM    ANN    XX  •  DORMIT    IN   PACE — "  Laurentius 

was  born  into  eternity  in  the  twentieth  year  of  his  age. 
He  sleeps  in  peace." 

Sometimes  the  word  natus  refers  to  the  new  birth  of 
spiritual  regeneration,  and  admission  to  the  church  by 
the  rite  of  baptism.  Thus,  in  an  example  of  date  A.  D. 
338,  a  youth  of  twenty-four  years  of  age  is  said  to 
have  been  born  and  died  in  the  same  year,  though  at  the 
interval  of  a  few  months.  In  A.  D.  377  we  find  the 
expression  coelesti  renatvs  aqva — "  Born  again  of 
heavenly  water." 

In  the  year  A.  D.  335  the  chaste  and  modest  charac- 
ter of  a  Christian  matron  is  commended,  without  any 
suggestion  of  the  Romish  notion  of  the  superior  merit 
of  virginity,  as  follows  : 

B  •  M  •  CVBICVLVM  •  AVRELIAE  •  MARTINAE  •  CASTISSIMAE  •  ADQKE  • 
PVDICISSIMAE  •  FEMINAE  •   QVI  •  FECIT  •  IN  •  CONIVGIO  •  ANN  •  XXIU  • 


« 


I 


i 


424 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


n  •  XIIII — "  To  one  well-dcserving.  The  sleeping-place  of  Aurelio 
Martina,  a  most  chaste  and  modest  woman,  who  passed  in  wedlock 
twenty-three  years,  fourteen  days." 

The  primitive  Christians  had  no  doubt  of  the  immedi- 
ate happiness  of  those  who  died  in  the  faith.  They  were 
incapable  of  the  blasphemous  thought  that  the  atoning 
blood  of  Christ  was  insufficient  to  wash  away  their  guilt, 
and  that  therefore  they  were  doomed  to  penal  fires, 

Till  the  foul  crimes  done  in  their  days  of  nature 
Were  burned  and  purged  away. 

All  the  expressions  applied  to  the  death  of  the  right- 
eous indicate  the  assurance  of  their  spirits*  peace  and 
happiness.     Thus,  in  addition  to  the  examples  already 
given,  we  have,  A.  D.  339,  bene  qvesqventi  (j/r)  in  pace 
— "  Resting  well  in  peace ;  "  A.  D,  339,  in  pace  decessit, 
A.  D.  349,  and  A.  D.  360,  ibit  and  exibit  in  pace — "  De- 
parted in    peace ;  "  A.  D.  348,   reqvievit — "  Entered 
into  rest ;  "  A.  D.  353,  pavsabit— "  Will  repose ;  "  A.  D. 
355,  QviESCiT — "He  rests,"  not  reqviescat — "May he 
rest,"  as  the  Romanists  write,  but  the  joyful  assurance 
of  present  repose  in  the   peace   of  God;   A.  D.  359, 
iviT  AD  DEVM — "  He  went   to  God ;  "  A.  D.  363,  sem- 
per QViESCis  SECVRA — "  Thou  dost  repose  forever  free 
from  care ; "  A.  D.  368,  qviencis  (j/V)  in  pace  conivx 
iNCOMPARABiLis — "  Thou  rcstest  in  peace,  incomparable 
wife ;  "  A.  D.  369,  vocitvs  {sic)  iit  in  pace — "  Called 
away,  he  went  in  peace ;  "  in  A.  D.  380,  we  find  aeterna 
REQViES  FELiciTATis — "Everlasting  rest  of  happiness." 
The  Christians,  as   is  asserted  in   the  following,   sor- 
rowed  not  as  those  without  hope:    ivliae    innocen- 

TISSIMAE  ET    DVLCISSIMAE,    MATER    SVA  SPERANS^="To 

the  most  sweet  and  innocent  Julia,  her  mother  hoping." 
Tiie  loved  ones  were  "  not  lost,  but  gone  before :  " 
PRAECESSiT  NOS  IN  PACE — "  He  went  before  us  in  peace  j" 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings. 


425 


nPOAnEAOQN  TOT  KAO  HMAC  BIOT — "  Having  gone  be- 
fore from  our  life."  Sometimes  the  body  seems  to  be 
regardeu  as  the  clog  and  fetter  of  the  soul,  binding  it  to 
earth,  as  in  the  following  :  absolv  rvs  de  corpore — "  oet 
free  from  the  body ;  "  corpor^os  rvmpens  nexvs  gav- 
DET  IN  ASTRis — "  Breaking  the  bonds  of  the  body,  he  re- 
joices in  the  stars,"  that  is,  in  heaven. 

The  entire  inscriptions  from  which  extracts  are  thus 
given  may  be  found  in  De  Rossi's  Inscriptiones  Chris- 
tiancdy  under  the  respective  dates. 

The  following,  of  date  A.  D.  381,  rises  to  loftier  poet- 
ical flights,  though  ignoring  the  metrical  divisions, 
which  are  indicated  in  the  copy  by  parallels : 

THEODORA  QVAE  VIXIT  ANNOS  XXI  M.  VII  D.  XXIII  IN  PACE.  .  .  .  AM- 
PLIFICAM  SEQVITVR  VITAM  DVM  CASTA  AFRODITE  |  FECIT  AD  ASTRA 
VIAM  CHRIST!  MODO  GAVDET  IN  AVLA  |  RESTITIT  HAEC  MVNDO 
SEMPER  CAELESTIA  QVAERENS  |  OPTIMA  SERVATRIX  LEGIS  FIDEIQVE 
MAGISTRA  I  DEDIT  EGREGIAM  SANCTIS  PER  SECVLA  MENTEM  |  INDE 
EXIMIOS  P\RADISI  REGNAT  ODORES  |  TEMPORE  CONTINVO  VERNANT 
VBI  GRAMINA  RIVIS  |  EXPECTATQVE  DEVM  SVPERAS  QVO  SVRGAT 
AD  AVRAS  I  HOC  POSVIT  CORPVS  TVMVLO  MORTALIA  LINQVENS  | 
FVNDAVITQVE  LOCVM  CONIVNX   EVACRIVS  INSTANS. 

Theodora,  who  lived  twenty-one  years,  seven  months,  twenty-three 
days.  In  peace.  Whilst  following  an  exalted  life,  a  chaste  Venus, 
she  pursued  her  way  to  the  stars.  Now  she  rejoices  in  the  court  of 
Christ.  She  resisted  the  world,  ever  following  heavenly  things.  A 
devout  observer  of  the  law,  and  mistress  of  honour,  she  applied  an 
illustrious  mind  to  holy  things  while  here  in  this  world.  Hence  she 
reigns  (amid)  the  choice  odours  of  paradise,  where  the  herbage  is  for- 
ever green  beside  the  streams  of  heaven,*  and  awaits  God,  in  order 
that  she  may  rise  to  the  upper  air.  She  laid  her  body  in  this  tomb, 
forsaking  mortal  things,  and  Evacrius,  her  husband,  built  the  monu- 
ment, superintending  the  work. 

The  first  inscription  at  all  favourable  to  Romish  doc- 
trine is  the  following  barbarous  example,  (A.  D.  380  :) 

♦  Compare  Wesley — 

"  There  everlasting  spring  abides. 
And  never-withering  flowers." 


42(3 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


HIC  QVIESCIT  ANCILLA  DEI  OVKDE 

SVA  OMNIA  I'KPENDir   DOMVM   ISTA 

QVVM  AMICI  DEFI.ENT  SOLACIVM  (^  REQVIRVNT 

I»RO  IIVNC  VNVM  ORA  SVUOLEM  QVKM  SVPERIS 

TITKM  REQVKSTI  ETERNA  REfjVIEM  FELICITAS  CAVSA  MANEIilS. 

Read  :  Uic  quiescit  ancilia  Dei  qua  de  suis  omnibus  pcpendit 
domum  is  tarn,  quant  amicic  dfjlcnt  solaciumque  requirunt.  Pro  hac 
una  ora  snbole  quain  superstitem  reliquisti.  EUnia  requie  felici- 
tdtis  causa  manebis. 

Here  rests  a  handmaid  of  God  ♦  who,  of  all  her  riches,  possesses 
but  this  one  house :  whom  her  friends  bewail,  and  seek  for  conso< 
lation.  O  pray  for  this  thine  only  child  whom  thou  hast  left  behind. 
Thou  wilt  remain  in  the  eternal  repose  of  happiness. 

1  ne  yearning  cry  of  an  orphaned  heart  for  the  prayers 
of  a  departed  mother  is,  however,  a  slight  foundation 
for  the  Romish  practice  of  the  invocation  of  the  saints. 

Previous  to  this  date  we  have  found  not  the  slightest 
indication  of  Romish  doctrine;  and  if  those  doctrines 
have  been  transmitted,  as  their  advocates  assert,  from 
the  very  earliest  ages,  it  is  incredible  that  they  should 
have  left  no  trace  in  the  dated  inscriptions  for  nearly 
four  centuries.  After  this  time,  it  is  true,  we  find 
occasional  epitaphs  which,  rigidly  interpreted  accord- 
ing to  the  canons  of  theological  criticism,  contain 
sentiments  unwarranted  by  Scripture ;  but  these  may 
be  the  result  of  carelessness  of  expression,  or  of  the 
corruptions  of  doctrine  which  had  already  taken  place 
in  the  church. 

If  then  those  inscriptions  which  apparently  favour  Ro- 
mish dogmas,  of  which  we  know  the  date,  are  all  of  a  late 
period,  we  may  assume  that  those  of  a  similar  character 
which  are  undated  are  of  the  same  relative  age,  and 
therefore  valueless  as  evidence  of  the  antiquity  of  such 
dogmas.  Dr.  Northcote  admits  the  fact,  but  objects  to 
this  conclusion  as  founded  upon  negative  evidence ; 
*  De  Rossi  thinks  Ancilia  Dei  a  proper  name. 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings, 


427 


I 


yet  he  himself  adopts  the  same  line  of  argument  con- 
cerning the  absence  of  military  rank  among  the  primi- 
tive Christians.  But  we  are  not  left  to  negative  evi- 
dence. We  have  the  amplest  testimony  of  a  positive 
character,  which  we  shall  j)roceed  to  examine,  showing 
that  even  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  century  the  vast  pro- 
portion of  the  inscriptions  are  of  a  iiighly  evangelical 
character,  and  are  entirely  antagonistic  to  the  most 
cherished  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 

The  Christian's  view  of  death  is  always,  in  striking 
contrast  to  the  sullen  resignation  or  blank  despair  of 
paganism,  full  of  cheerfulness  and  hope.  Its  rugged 
front  is  veiled  under  softest  synonyms.  The  grave  was 
considered  merely  as  the  temporary  resting  place  of  the 
body,  while  the  freed  spirit  was  regarded  as  already 
rejoicing  in  the  presence  of  God  in  a  broader  day,  and 
brighter  light,  and  fairer  fields  than  those  of  earth. 
The  following  examples  will  illustrate  the  pious  ortho 
doxy  of  these  early  Christian  epitaphs. 

4BIIT  ETHERIAM  CVPIENS  CAELI   CONSCENDERE    LVCEM.    (a.  D.   383.) 

She  departed,  desiring  to  ascend  to  the  ethereal  light  of  heaven. 

I.IMINA  MORTIS  ADIIT 
EVTVCHIVS  SAPIENS  PIVS  ADQ  BENIGNVS 
IN  CHRISTVM  CREDENS  PREMIA  LVCIS  ABET.  (jtV.)  A.  D.  393. 

Eutuchius,  wise,  pious,  and  kind,  believing  in  Christ,  entered  the 
portals  of  death,  (and)  has  the  rewards  of  the  light  (of  heaven). 

DVLCIS  ET  INNOCEIi  (jiV)  HIC  DORMIT    SEVERIANVS   SOMNO    PACIS. .  . 
CVIVS  KPIPITVS  IN  LVCE  DOMINI  SVSCEPTVS  EST.      (A.  D.  393.) 

Here  sleeps  in  the  sleep  of  peace  the  sweet  and  innocent   Severi- 
anus,  whose  spirit  is  received  into  the  light  of  the  Lord. 

HIC  IACET  VRBICA  SVABIS  {sic)  SEMPERO.  FVDICA 
VIXIT  VERBORVM  VERA  LOQVVTA  {sic)  IN  SEMPITERNALE 
AEVVM  QVIESCIT  SECVKA.      (a.  D.  397.) 

Here  lies  Urbica,  agreeable  and  ever  modest.     She  lived  a  speaker 
of  truth.     She  rests  free  from  care  throujrliout  endless  time. 


428 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


NEC  REOR  HVNC  LACRIMIS  FAS  SIT  DEFLERE 

CORPORIS  EXVTVS  VINCLIS  QVI  GAVDET  IN  ASTRIS 

NEC  MALA  TERRENI  SENTIT  CONTAGIA  SENSVS.     (A.  D.  399.) 

Nor  do  I  think  it  right  to  lament  with  tears  him,  who,  freed  from 
the  fetters  of  the  body,  rejoices  among  the  stars,  nor  feels  the  evil 
contagion  of  earthly  sense. 

pavsabet  (sic)  praetiosa  annorvm 

PVLLA  {sic)  VIRGO  XII.  TANTVM  ANCILLA  DEI  ET  XPI. 

Pretiosa  wen*^  to  her  rest,  a  maiden  of  only  twelve  years  of  age, 
a  handmaid  of  God  and  of  Christ.     (A.  D.  401.) 

NON  TAMEN  HAEC  TRISTES  HABITAT  POST  LIMINA  SEDES 
PROXIMA  SED  CHRISTO  SIDERA  CELSA  TENET.      (A.  D.  406.) 

Nevertheless  she  occupies  not  the  doleful  seats  behind  the  thresh- 
old, but  inhabits  the  lofty  stars,  next  to  Christ. 

HIC  REQVIESCET   {sic)  IN    SOMNO  PACIS   MALA.  .  .  . 
ACCiJPTA  APVT  {sic)  DEVM.    (A.  D.  432.) 

Here  rests  in  the  sleep  of  peace  Mala.  .  .  Received  into  the  presence 
of  God. 

REDDITVR   HAEC   MERITIS   QUAE   SINE   FINE   MANET. 

This  (life)  without  end  which  remains  is  bestowed  for  his  pious 
desert. 

I  the  following  epitaph  of  date  A.  D.  i;.72,  the  de- 
parted is  represented  as  comforting  the  survivors  with 
the  thciighi  of  the  felicity  of  the  blest : 

LEVITAE  CONIVNX  PETRONIA  FORMA  PVDORIS 

HIS  MEA  DEPONENS  SEDIBVS  OSSA  LOCO 
PARCITE  VOS  LACRIMIS  DVLCES  CVM  CONIVGE  NATAE 

VIVENTEMQVE  DEO  CREDITE  FLERE  NEFAS. 

I,  Petronia,  the  wife  of  a  deacon,  the  type  of  modesty,  lay  down  my 
bones  in  this  resting  place.  Refrain  from  tears,  my  sweet  daughters 
and  husband,  and  believe  that  it  is  forbidden  to  weep  for  one  who 
lives  in  God. 

The  early  Christians  confessed  that  they  were  stran- 
gers and  pilgrims  in  the  earth,  and  that  they  desired  a 
better  country,  even  a  heavenly.  They  felt  that,  in  the 
language  of  Cyprian,  the  soul's  true  Fatherland  is  on 
high.     This  sentiment   is   expressed  as   follows,  in  an 


Their  Doctrimil  Teachings. 


429 


epitaph  of  date  A.  D.  493,  migravit  de  hoc  saecvlo — 
"  He  migrated  from  this  world."  Similar  is  the  idea  in 
the  following :  felix  vita  fvit  felix  et  transitvs 
IPSE — "  Happy  was  the  life,  and  happy  also  the  death,"  lit- 
erally, "  the  transit ;  "  hic  reqiescit  . .  qvae  a  deo  inter 

EXORDIA  VIVENDI  DE  HAC  LVCE  SVBLATA  ZST  VT  IN 
MELIORE   LVMINE  VIVERE  MERERETVR — "  Here   reStS  .  .  . 

who  was  snatched  away  by  God  in  the  very  beginning 
of  life  from  the  light  of  earth,  that  she  might  be  worthy 
to  live  in  the  more  glorious  light  (of  heaven)." 

The  following  is  a  striking  protest  against  the  heathen 
notions  of  the  future  state. 

SI  MENTIS  VIRTVS  LVCISQVE  SERENIOR  VSVS 
DEFVNCTO  IN  XPO  REVENIT  NGN  TARTARA  SENTIT 
CYMERIOSQVE  LACOS  MERITIS  POST  FATA  SVPERSTES 
FVNERIS  ET  LEGEM  PERIMENS  TERRAEQVE  SEPVLCRIS 
ASTRA  TENET  NESCITQVE  MORI  SIC  LVCE  RELICTA. 

Since  vigour  of  mind  and  more  serene  enjoyment  of  the  light  re- 
turn to  the  dead  in  Christ,  she  feels  not  (the  pains  of)  Tartans,  nor 
the  Cimmerian  lakes,  by  her  deserts  surviving  after  death  and  de- 
stroying that  law  of  the  grave,  (which  is)  imposed  on  the  sep  ilchres 
of  earth,  she  occupies  the  stars,  and  knows  not  death,  having  '.n  this 
manner  left  the  light. 

We  find  also  such  expressions  as  follow :  depostvs(j/V) 
IN  pace  fidei  catholice,  {sic) — "  Buried  in  the  neare 
of  the  Catholic  faith,"  A.  D.  462  ;  hic.  req.  in  pace 
devs,  {sic) — "  Here  rests  in  the  peace  of  God,"  A.  D. 
500;  in  pace  ecclesiae — "In  the  peace  of  the  church," 
A.  D.  523;  in  pace  et  benedictione — "In  peace  and 
benediction ;  "  semper  fidelis  manebit  apvd  devm — 
"  Ever  faithful,  he  shall  remain  with  God,"  {circ.  590) ; 
FATVM  fecit — "She  fulfilled  her  destiny;"*  reddidi 

*  The  following  is  the  brief  biography  of  some  unknown  saint  at 
Naples:  servvs  dei  .  .  .  et  ad  vita  {sic)  perbenit,  {sic^ — *'A 
servant  of  God  .  .  i  and  attained  unto  life." 


I 


430 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


V 


NVNCDIVORERVM  DEBIT VM    COMMVNE  OMNIBVS "I  havC 

rendered  now  to  the  Lord  of  the  universe  the  debt  com- 
mon to  all,"  A.  D.  483  ;  zoticvs  hic  ad  dormiendvm — 
"  Zoticus  here  laid  to  sleep ;  "  dormitio  elpidis — "  The 
sleeping  place  of  Elpis ;  '*  dormivit  et  reqviescit — 
"  He  has  slept  and  is  at  rest ;  "  dormit  sed  vivit — "  He 
sleeps  but  lives ;  "  qviescit  in  domino  iesv — "  He  re- 
poses in  the  Lord  Jesus ;  "  ivit  ad  devm — "  He  went  to 
God ; "  Evoc ATVS  a  domino — "  Called  by  God ; "  accepta 
APVD  DEVM — "  Accepted  with  God  ;  "  ETEAEIQGH — "  He 
finished  his  life ;  "  EKOIMHGH — "  He  fell  asleep ;  "  dama- 
Lis  HIC  sic  •  v  •  D — "  Here  lies  Damalis,  for  so  God  wills." 
Many  of  these  undated  inscriptions  are  full  of  Chris- 
tian thought,  and  breathe  the  strongest  assurance  of  the 
happiness  of  the  departed,  as  the  following  from  the 
Late  ran  Museum : 

MACVS  PVER  INNOCENS 
ESSE  lAM  INTER  INNOCENTES  COEPISTX 
QVAM  STAVILIS  TIBI  HAEC  vita  EST 
QVAM  TE  LAETVM  EXCIPET  MATER  ECCLESIA 
MVNDO  REVERTENTEM  COMPREMATVR  PECTORVM 
GEMITUS  STRVATVR  FLETVS  OCVLORVM. 

Macua,  innocent  boy,  thou  hast  already  begun  to  be  among  the  in- 
nocent. Unto  thee  how  sure  is  thy  present  life.  Thee  how  gladly 
thy  mother,  the  church,  (on  high,)  received  returning  from  this  world. 
Hushed  be  this  bosom's  groaning,  dried  be  these  weeping  eyes.* 

Of  similar  character  are  also  the  following :  salonice 
ISPIRITVS  Tvvs  IN  BONIS — "  Salonicc,  thy  spirit  is  among 
the  good;"  refrigeras  spiritvs  tvvs  in  bonis — "Thou 
refreshest  thy  spirit  among  the  good ;  "  nPQTOC  EN  AFIQ 
HNETMATl  GEOT  EN0AAE  KEiTAI— "  Here  in  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God  lieth  Protus ;  "  corpvs  habet  tellvs 
animam  caelestia  regna — "The  earth  has  the  body, 
celestial  realms  the  soul;"   TAYKEPON  *AOC  OT  KATE- 

*  Button. 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings. 


43' 


AEtAS  {sic)  E2XE2  TAP  META  COT  RANAeANATON— "  Thou 
didst  not  leave  the  sweet  light,  for  thou  hadst  with  thee 
Him  who  knows  not  death," literally,  "the  all-deathless 
one ; "  agape  vibis  in  eternvm — "  Agape,  thou  livest  for- 
ever ;  "  DORMIT  ET  viviT  IN  PACE  xo,  i^sic) — "  He  sleeps 
and  lives  in  the  peace  of  Christ ;  "  mens  nescia  mortis 

VIVIT    ET  ASPECTV    FRVITVR    BENE     CONSCIA     CHRISTI — 

**  The  soul  lives  unknowing  of  death,  and  consciously  re- 
joices in  the  vision  of  Christ ;  "  prima  vivis  in  gloria  dei 
ET  IN  pace  DOMINI  NOSTRi  XR.  — "  Prima,  thou  livest  in 
the  glory  of  God,  and  in  the  peace  of  Christ,  Our  Lord."  * 
The  glorious  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  which  is 
peculiarly  the  characteristic  of  our  holy  religion  as  dis- 
tinguished from  all  the  faiths  of  antiquity,  was  every- 
where recorded  throughout  the  Catacombs.  It  was 
symbolized  in  the  ever-recurring  representations  of  the 
story  of  Jonah  and  of  the  raising  of  Lazarus,  and  was 
strongly  asserted  in  numerous  inscriptions.  As  the 
early  Christians  laid  the  remains  of  the  departed 
saint  in  their  last  long  rest,  the  sacred  words  of  the 
Gospel,  "  I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life,"  must 
have  echoed  with  a  strange  power  through  the  long  cor- 
ridors of  that  silent  city  of  the  dead,  and  have  filled 
the  hearts  of  the  believers,  though  surrounded  by  the 
evidences  of  their  mortality,  with  an  exultant  thrill  of 
triumph  over  death  and  the  grave.  This  was  a  recom- 
pense for  all  their  pains.  Of  this  not  even  the  malig- 
nant ingenuity  of  persecution  could  deprive  them.  Al- 
though the  body  were  consumed  and  its  ashes  strewn 
upon  the  waters,  or  sown  upon  the  wandering  winds, 
still,  still  the   Lord   knoweth  them   that  are  his,  and 

*  Of  the  Antiochene  Christians  Chrysostom  writes:  "  They  say  not 
of  the  departed  'he  is  dead,'  but,  'he  is  perfected.'" — Horn.  \\\ 
Matt.,  68. 


432 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


keeps  the  dust  of  his  chosen.  Tertullian  ridicules  the 
heathen  for  believing  the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis 
and  rejecting  that  of  the  resurrection.*  "  God  forbid 
that  he  should  abandon  to  everlasting  destruction,"  he 
exclaims,  "  the  labour  of  his  hands,  the  care  of  his  own 
thoughts,  the  receptacle  of  his  own  Spirit !  "  \ 

The  hope  of  t  e  resurrection  is  often  strongly  ex- 
pressed, as  in  the  following  examples  : 

HIC  REQVIESCIT  CARD  MEA  NOVISSIMO  VERO  DIE 

PER  XPM  CREDO  RESVSCITABITVR  A  MORTVIS.    (a.  D.  544.) 

Here  rests  my  flesh ;  but  at  the  last  day,  through  Christ,  I  believe  it 
will  be  raised  from  the  dead. 

RELICTIS  TVIS  lACES  IN  PACE  SOPORE 

MERITA  RESVRGES  TEMPORALIS  TIB!  DATA  REQVIETIO. 

You,  well-deserving  one,  having  left  your  (relations),  lie  asleep  in 
peace  —you  will  arise — a  temporary  rest  is  granted  you. 

In   an   epitaph   of   the  year  449  we  read,  recepta 

CAELO    MERVIT     OCCVRRERE   XPO    AD     RESVRRECTIONEM 

PRAEMivM  AETER  i^vM  svsciPERE  DiGNA — "  Received 
into  heaven,  she  deserved  to  meet  Christ  at  the  resur- 
rection, worthy  to  receive  an  everlasting  reward."  In  the 
following  example  from  the  Catacomb  of  Naples,  Chris- 
tian confidence  adopts  the  sublime  language  of  Job : 

CREDO  QVIA  REDEMPTOR   MEVS  BIBIT  {sic)  ET  NOBISSIMO  DIE 
DE  TERRA  SVSCITABIT  ME  IN  CARNE  MEA  VIDEBO  DOM. 

I  believe,  because  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,  and  in  the  last  day 
shall  raise  me  from  the  earth,  that  in  my  flesh  I  shall  see  the  Lord. 

More  briefly  is  this  cardinal  doctrine  asserted  in  the 
following :  ivstvs  cvm  scis  xpo  mediante  resvrget 
—  "  Justus,  who  will  arise  with  the  saints  through  Christ." 

*  Apol.y  c.  48. 

\  De  Resur.  Carn.,  c.  9.  He  mentions  the  long  duration  of  the 
bones  and  teeth,  and  quotes  the  story  of  the  phoenix  as  an  argument 
in  favour  of  the  doctrine,  c.  13. 


Their  Doctrinal  Tcic/iings. 


433 


ttIC     IN     PACE     REQVIESCIT    LAVRENTIA    QVAE    CREDIDIT 

RESVRRECTiONEM — "  Here  reposes  in  peace  Laurentia, 
who  believed  in  the  resurrection."* 

The  very  idea  of  death  seems  to  have  been  repu- 
diated by  the  primitive  Christians.  "  Non  tnortua  sed 
data  somno"  sings  Prudentius  in  paraphrase  of  the 
words  of  Our  Lord,  "She  is  not  dead  but  sleepeth."f 
Hence  the  Catacomb  was  designated  the  cctmeteriumX 
or  place  of  sleeping,  and  the  funeral  vault  the  cubiculum, 
or  sleeping  chamber.  The  dead  were  not  "  buried,"  as 
the  pagan  expressions  londitus^  compositus^  situs,  indicate  ; 
but  depositus,  "  laid  down  "  in  their  lowly  beds  till  the 
everlasting  morn  should  come,  and  the  angel's  trump 
awake  them ;  consigned  as  a  precious  trust  to  the  ten- 
der keeping  of  mother  earth,  and  "  lying  in  wait  for  the 
resurrection."  §  The  saints  were  "  fallen  asleep  "  in 
Jesus,  and  on  the  bridal  morning  of  the  soul  they  should 
awake  with  his  likeness  and  be  satisfied.  The  primitive 
Christians  believed  that  the  power  which  called  a  Laz- 
arus from  the  tomb  could  wake  to  life  again  the  slum- 
bering millions  of  this  valley  of  dry  bones,  vaster  far 


*  A  spurious  epitaph  of  the  fourteenth  century,  given  by  Maitland, 
p.  82,  as  genuine,  thus  fantastically  refers  to  this  august  theme :    QVI 

INQVIETVS  VIXI  NVNC  TANDEM  MORTVVS  NON  LVBENS  QVIESCO, 
SOLVS  CVR  SIM  QVAESERIS    {sic)   VT   IN   DIE  CENSORIO  SINE    IMPEDI- 

MENTO  FACiLivs  RESVRGAM — *'  I  who  lived  restless,  being  now 
at  length  dead,  rest  unwillingly.  Do  you  ask  why  I  am  alone? 
That  in  the  day  of  Judgment  I  may  more  readily  rise  without 
impediment." 

f  See  also  the  epitaph  given  in  Book  I,  chap.  iii. — ALEXANDER 
MORTVVS  NON  EST  SED  viviT  svpER  ASTRA — "  Alexander  is  not  dead, 
but  lives  above  the  stars." 

\  Similarly  the  African  Christians  called  their  burial  places  accu- 
bitoria — "  sleeping  places." 

§  Wiseman,  Fabiola,  p.  145.  Dr.  McCaul,  however,  regards  the 
expression  as  simply  equivalent  to  buried. 

28 


•\ 


434 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


than  that  of  Ezekiel's  vision,  till  they  should  stand  up 
upon  their  feet  an  exceeding  great  army. 

But  this  sleep  was  a  sleep  of  the  body  only,  not  of 
the  soul.  The  ancient  Christians  were  assured,  as  we 
have  seen,  of  the  immediate  happiness  of  those  that 
died  in  the  faith.  They  believed  that  being  absent 
from  the  body  they  were  present  with  the  Lord ;  that 
as  soon  as  they  passed  from  earth's  living  death  they 
entered  into  the  undying  life  and  unfading  bliss  of 
heaven.  Though  surrounded  by  the  mouldering  bodies 
of  the  saints  in  Christ,  the  eye  of  faith  beheld  their  glo- 
rified spirits,  starry-crowned  and  palm-bearing,  among 
the  white-robed  multitude  before  the  throne  of  God. 
They  admitted  no  thought  of  a  long  and  dreary  period 
of  forgetfulness,  nor  probation  of  purgatorial  fires,  be- 
fore the  soul  could  enter  into  joy  and  peace. 

The  sublime  reflections  with  which  Cyprian  con- 
cludes his  treatise  De  Mortalitate  nobly  express  the 
grand  consoling  thoughts  which  sustamed  the  primitive 
Chrictians,  and  which  sustain  God's  saints  in  every  age. 
"  We  are  but  pilgrims  and  strangers  here  below,"  he 
exclaims,  "  let  us  then  welcome  the  day  that  gives  to  us 
the  joys  of  heaven.  What  exile  longs  not  for  his  native 
land  t  Our  true  native  land  is  paradise.  A  large  and 
loving  company  expects  us  there.  O  the  bliss  of  those 
celestial  realms  where  no  fear  of  dying  enters !  There 
the  glorious  choir  of  the  apostles,  the  exulting  com- 
pany of  the  prophets,  the  countless  army  of  the  mar- 
tyrs, await  us.  To  them  let  us  eagerly  hasten.  Let  us 
long  to  be  with  them  the  sooner,  that  we  may  the  sooner 
be  with  Christ." 

What  a  striking  contrast  to  these  holy  hopes  is  the 
pagans'  blankness  of  despair  concerning  the  future. 
Compared  with  this  assurance  of  a  blissful  immortality, 


Tlieir  Doctrinal  Teachings. 


4 "» * 


how  cold  and  cheerless  is  their  shadowy  elysium,  their 
unsubstantial  visions  of  the  spirit-world ;  how  terrible 
the  gloomy  Acherontian  lake,  dark  Lethe's  stream,  and 
Styx,  and  fiery  Phlegethon.  Like  a  gleam  of  heaven's 
sunshine  in  a  benighted  age  are  these  rude  inscriptions 
of  the  early  Christians.  Sublimer  is  their  lofty  hope, 
reaching  forward  beyond  this  world,  and  laying  hands 
of  faith  upon  the  eternal  verities  of  the  world  to  corne, 
than  the  imperishable  renow^n  of  classic  sages,  or  the 
Roman  poet's  vaunting  boast  of  earthly  immortality — 
Non  omnis  mortar. 

Even  the  high  philosophy  of  Greece  and  the  noble 
stoicism  of  the  Roman  mind  afford  no  consolation  to 
the  soul  brought  face  to  face  with  the  solemn  mystery 
of  death.  A  forced  and  sullen  submission  to  the  in- 
evitable is  all  that  they  can  teach.  They  shed  no  light 
upon  the  world  beyond  the  grave,  domvs  aeterna — 
"An  eternal  home,"*  and  somno  aeternali — "In 
eternal  sleep,"  are  written  on  their  tombs,  frequently  ac- 
companied by  an  inverted  torch,  the  emblem  of  despair. 
To  them  death  is  an  unsolved  and  insoluble  problem. 
Their  loftiest  reasonings  lack  authority  to  satisfy  the 
mind.  It  is  the  gospel  of  Christ  alone  which  dispels 
the  awful  shadows  of  the  tomb,  plants  the  flower  of 
hope  in  the  very  ashes  of  the  grave,  and  brings  life  and 
immortality  to  light;  which  appeases  the  soul-hunger  of 
mankind,  and  meets  the  yearning  cry  of  the  human 
heart. 


f 


*  This  phrase  is  sometimes,  though  very  rarely,  inadvertently  used 
in  Christian  epitaphs,  as  also  the  expression,  Tbv  uyp^yopov  Citvov 
Kodevdei — "  Sleeps  the  sleep  that  knows  no  waking."  Of  somewhat 
pagan  form  is  the  following  epitaph  of  Cardinal  Porto-Carero  at  To- 
ledo, ffic  jacet  pulvis  cinis  et  nihil — "  Here  lies  dust  and  ashes,  and 
nothing  more." 


436 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


Even  the  thoughtful  mind  of  Pliny  could  extract  no 
comfort  from  the  various  theories  concerning  the  future 
state,  but  looked  forward  to  annihilation  as  the  universal 
doom.  "  To  all,"  he  says,  "  from  the  last  day  of  life  is 
there  the  same  lot  that  there  was  before  the  first ;  nor  is 
there  any  more  consciousness  after  death  than  there  was 
before  birth."  *  Of  Agricola,  the  wise  and  good,  the 
philosophic  Tacitus  could  only  say.  with  an  incredulous 
sigh,  "  Doubtless  if  there  be  a  place  for  the  departed 
spirits  of  the  just,  if  great  souls  perish  not  with  the 
body,  thou  dost  calmly  repose. "t  "  That  the  manes  are 
any  thing,"  says  Juvenal,  "  or  that  the  nether  world  is 
any  thing,  not  even  boys  believe,  unless  those  still  in  the 
nursery."  X  In  sullen  submission  to  fate,  the  pagan  sub- 
mits to  the  inevitable  doom.  When  the  name  has  issued 
from  the  fatal  urn  he  leaves  forever  his  woods,  his  villa, 
his  pleasant  home,  and  enters  the  bark  which  is  to  bear 
him  into  eternal  exile.§  The  wisest  sages  can  only  fan 
the  embers  of  their  hopes  into  a  flickering  flame,  and 
cry,  *'  Ha !  we  have  seen  the  fire." 

The  following  are  examples  of  the  melancholy  and 
despairing  spirit  often  breathed  by  pagan  epitaphs : 

PRAEVENERE  DIEM  VITAE  CRVDELIA  FATA 
ET  RAPTAM  INTERNA  ME  POSVERE  RATE 

HOC  LECTO  ELOGIO  IVVENIS  MISERERE  lACENTIS 
ET  Die  DISCEDENS  SIT  TIBI  TERRA  LEVIS. 


I: 


*  Omnibus  a  suprema  die  eadem  quae  ante  primum,  nee  magis  a 
morte  sensus  ullus  aut  corporis  aut  animae,  quam  ante  natalem. 

f  Si  quis  piorum  manibus  locus,  si  non  cum  corpore  extinguuntur 
magnse  animse.placide  quiescas. —  Vit.  Agric. 

\  Esse  aliquid  manes  et  '>ubterranea  regna, 

Nee  pueri  credunt,ni<i  qui  nondum  acre  lavantur. — Sat.,  ii,  149. 

§  See  that  saddest  but  most  beautiful  of  the  odes  of  Horace — To 
Delium,  II,  3. 

.  .  .  Et  nos  in  aeternum 
Exilium  impositura  cymbw. 


Their^  Doctrinal  Teachings, 


437 


The  cruel  fates  have  anticipated  the  term  of  life,  and  placed  me, 
snatched  away,  in  the  infernal  bark.  Having  read  this  elegy  pity  the 
fallen  youth  and  say  departing.  May  the  earth  be  light  upon  thee. 

INFANTI    DVLCISSIMO  QVEM  DII  IRATI  AETERNO   SOMNO 

DEDERVNT — "  To  a  Very  sweet  child,  whom  the  angry 
gods  gave  to  eternal  sleep."     svscipe   nvnc  conivnx 

SI  QVIS  POST  FVNERA  SENSVS   DEBITA  MANIBVS  OFFICIA — 

"  Receive  now,  O  husband,  if  after  death  is  any  con- 
sciousness, the  rites  due  to  departed  spirits."  The 
hopeless  parting  of  a  dying  wife  is  thus  expressed  :  care* 

MARITE  MIHI    DVLCISSIMA   NATA   VALETE — "  O   husband, 

dear  to  me,  and  dearest  daughter,  farewell."  Or  more 
briefly  we  read,  ave  atqve  vale — "  Hail  and  farewell." 
Sometimes  the  desponding  view  of  life  is  like  the  bit- 
ter experience  of  the  Hebrew  moralist,  "  Vanity  of 
vanities,  all  is  vanity !  "    One  such  example  reads  thus ; 

DECIPIMVR  VOTIS  ET  TEMPORE   FALLIMVR  ET  MORS 
DERIDET  CVRAS  ANXIA  VITA  NIHIL. 

•  We  are  deceived  by  our  vows,  misled  by  time,  and  death  derides 
our  cares ;  anxious  life  is  naught. 

Of  similar  character  is  the  following  recalling  the 
complaint  of  Job,  "  He  cometh  forth  as  a  flower  and  is, 
cut  down : "  vive  laetvs  qvicvnqve  vivis  vita  par- 

VVM    MVNVS    EST     MOX     EXORTA    EST    SENSIM     VIGESCIT 

DEINDE  SENSIM  DEFICIT — "  Live  joyful  who  ever  thou 
art  that  livest.  Life  is  a  small  gift.  It  is  scarcely  sprung 
up  when  it  imperceptibly  flourishes  and  then  impercep- 
tibly declines."  The  succeeding  example  is  remarkable 
for  its  misanthropy  :  animal  ingrativs  homine  nvllvm 
EST — "  No  animal  is  more  ungrateful  than  man."  The 
inspired  apothegm,  "  We  brought  nothing  into  this  world, 
and  it  is  certain  we  can  carry  nothing  out,"  is  illustrated 
in  the  following:  ex  omnibvs  bonis  svis  hoc  sibi  svmp- 
SERVNT — "  Of  all  their  wealth  they  possess  only  this 


i  ii 


438 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


tomb."  >  ..  find  also  the  expression,  mater  genvit  me 
MATER  RECiPiT — '*  Mother  (earth)  nourished  me,  she 
receives  me  again,"  analogous  to  the  declaration  of 
Scripture,  "  Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou 
return."  Spon  gives  also  the  following  example :  vixi 
VT  vivis  MORiERis  VT  SVM  MORTVvs — "I  have  Hved  as 
thou  livest,  thou  shalt  die  as  I  have  died."  Some- 
times the  cold  consolation  is  offered  that  others  are 
also  the  subjects  of  sorrow  and  death,  as  dolor  talis 
NGN  TiBi  coNTiGir  VNi — "  Such  grief  affects  not  thee 
alone;"  NEC  tibi  nec  nobis  aeternvm  vivere  cessit 
— "  Neither  to  you  nor  to  us  was  it  granted  to  live 
forever."      Similar   to   this   is  a   Christian   inscription, 

ETtTXE!    CEKOTNAE   OTAElC    AGANOTOC — "  Be    of    good 

cheer,  Secundus;  no  one  is  immortal." 

More  painful  even  than  the  gloomy  stoicism  of  many 
pagan  inscriptions  is  the  light  Epicurean  tone  which 
frequently  occurs,  as  in  the  instance  which  follows,  where 
life  is  compared  to  a  play : 

VIXI  •  DVM  •  VIXI  •  BENE  •  lAM  •  MEA 
PERACTA  •  MOX  •  VESTRA  •  AGETVR 
FABVLA  •  VALETE  •  ET  •  PLAVDITE  . 

While  I  lived,  I  lived  well.     My  play  is  now  ended,  soon  yours 
will  be.     Farewell  and  applaud  me.* 

'  In  the  succeeding  example  the  sentiment  is  still  more 
Anacreontic.  It  breathes  the  true  pagan  spirit,  Carpe 
diem — "  Seize  the  day.  Pluck  each  flower  of  pleasure  as 
you  pass.  Press  all  life's  nectar  into  one  frenzied 
draught  and  drain  it  to  the  dregs.     Let  us  eat  and  drink. 


*  In  a  similar  spirit  the  dying  emperor  Augustus  inquired  if  he  had 
played  his  part  well  in  the  farce  of  life,  and  asked  the  applause  of  his 
courtiers. 

t^brt  KpoTov 
Kai  Trdvrcf  vfitl^  ftera  x^P^^  KTv-'^aare. 


i 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings 


439 


»•> 


A 


for  to-morrow  we  die."  Even  in  the  solemn  j)resence 
of  death,  the  sonl,  unawed  by  the  dread  shadow  of  the 
future,  turns  regretfully  to  the  vanished  pleasures  of 
earth,  and  finds  its  only  consolation  in  the  thought  of 
their  enjoyment. 

n  •  M  •  TI  :  CLAVDI  •  SECVNDI 

HIC  •  SKCVM  •  HABET  •  OMNIA 

BALNEA •  VINVM  •  VENVS •  CORRVMPVNT  •  CORPORA 

NOSTRA  •  BED  •  VITAM  •  FACIVNT  B  •  V  •  V  • 

To  the  Divine  Manes  of  Tiberius  *"  .a  idius  Secundm.  Here  he  en- 
joys every  thing.  Bath^,  wine,  and  lust  ruin  our  constituiiouo,  bul^* 
they  make  life  what  it  is.     Farewell,  farewell.* 

The  following  expresses  the  very  essence  of  coarse 
sensualism :  qvod  edi  et  bibi  mecvm  habeo  qvod 
RELiQvi  perdidi — "  What  I  ate  and  drank  I  have 
with  me;  what  I  left  I  have  lost."  Compare  the 
moral  antithesis  of  the  sentiment  expressed  by  John 
Wesley :  "  What  I  gave  away  I  have  still ;  what  I  kept  1 
have  lost." 

Frequently  the  pagan  epitaphs  contain  an  outburst 
of  scorn  or  defiance  of  the  unjust  gods  that  sit  aloft 
and  make  their  sport  of  human  woe,  as  is  seen  in  the 
accompanying  examples : 

PROCOPE  •  MANVS  •  LEBO  •  CONTRA  •  DEVM 
QVI  ■  ME  •  INNOCENTEM  •  SVSTVLIT. 

I,  Procope,  lift  up  my  hands  against  the  god  who  snatched  away 
me  innocent. 

In  an  epitaph  in  the  Lapidarian  Gallery  a  bereaved 
mother  in  the  bitterness  of  her  soul  cries  out : 

ATROX  O  FORTVNA  TRVCI  QVAE  FVNERE  GAVDES 
QVID  MIHI  TAM  SVBITO   MAXIMVS  ERIPITVR 
QVI  MODO  IVCVNDVS  GREMIO  SVPERESSE  SOLEBAT 
HIC  LAPIS  IN  TVMVLO  NVNC  lACET  ECCE  MATER. 

*  The  Swedish  poet  Georg  St.  Jernhjelm  ordered  to  be  written  on 
his  tomb  the  pagan  sentiment,  VixiT  DVM  vixiT  LAETVS— "  While  he 
lived  he  lived  merrily." 


If 


44'>  y/'<'  CittiKombs  of  Rome. 

O  relentless  Fortune,  who  delightcst  in  cruel  deatli, 
Why  is  MaximuH  so  suddenly  snatched  from  me? 
He  who  lately  used  to  be  joyful  in  my  bosom, 
This  stone  now  marks  his  tomb. — iJchold  his  mother. 

Compare  also  the  following :  invida  lihitina  filiis 
ABSTVLiT  PATREM — "  Envious  Libitina  snatched  away 
a  father  from  his  children ;  "  vie  r a  est  ivsticia  non 
AEQVO IVDICE  FATo — "  Justice  is  ovcrcomc  by  that  unjust 
judge,  Fate;  "  Diis  iniqvis  animvlam  tvam  rapvervnt 
— "To  the  unjust  gods,  (who)  snatched  away  thy  soul." 

But  the  holy  teachings  of  Christianity  revealed  to  the 
weary  and  heavy  laden  souls  of  men,  aching  with  a 
sense  of  orphanage,  the  loving  Fatherhood  of  God,* 
and  produced  a  spirit  of  meekness  and  resignation  alto- 
gether foreign  to  the  pagan  mind.  Of  pathetic  interest, 
as  illustrating  this  fact,  is  a  Christian  fragment  of  date 
circ.  A.  D.  600,  on  which  we  may  still  read  the  in- 
scription 

QVI  •  DEDIT  •  ET  •  ABSTVLIT 
....  OMINI  •  BENEUIC 


•     •     •     • 


The  familiar  words  suggest  the  imperishable  thought, 
which  has  been  a  source  of  consolation  to  bereaved 
ones  in  every  age.  "  Like  a  voice  from  among  the 
graves,"  says  Dr.  Maitland,  "  broken  by  sobs,  yet  dis- 
tinctly intelligible,  fall  these  words  on  the  listening  ear, 
'  who  gave,  and  hath  taken  away — blessed  [be  the 
name]  of  the  Lord.'  " 

We  occasionally  find  pagan  inscriptions  breathing  a 
sense  of  spiritual  existence  and  hope  of  future  life.f 
The  yearning  of  the  human  heart  that 

Longs  for  the  touch  of  a  vanished  hand 
And  the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still, 

*  •*  God  counts  even  the  bristles  of  the  swine,"  says  X^r^ullian, 
*'  much  more  the  hairs  of  his  children." 
f  The  following  proposes  a  practical  test  of  the  existence  of  spirits : 

TVI.EGIS  KT  DVBITAS  MANES  ESSE    SI'DNSIGNE  FACTA  INVOCA  NQ5  E-T 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings, 


441 


and  the  hunger  of  the  soul  for  communion  with  the 
dear  departed  in  the  loving  tryst  of  the  silent  land  are 
pathetically  ex|)ressed  in  the  following  prayer  of  Furia 
Spes :  PETo  vos  manks  sanctissimak  {sic)  .  .  .  mevm 

CONIVOEM  HORIS  NOCTVRNIS  VT  VIDEAM  ET  ETIAM  VT 
EGO  DVLCIVS    ET    CELERIVS     APVU  EVM    PERVENIRE    POS- 

siM — "  I  beseech  you,  most  holy  spirits,  that  I  may 
behold  my  husband  in  the  midnight  hours ;  and  also  that 
I  may  more  sweetly  and  swiftly  go  to  him." 

More  common,  however,  is  the  feeling  of  hopeless 
severance  expressed  by  the  fre(|uent  valediction,  vale 
VALE  LONGVM  VALE — "  Farewell,  farewell,  a  long  fare- 
well;  "  CT,  sadder  still,  vale  aeternvm — "Farewell 
forever." 

There  occur  in  the  Catacombs  frequent  examples  of 
acclamations  addressed  to  the  departed,  expressive  of  a 
desire  for  their  happiness  and  peace.  These  acclama- 
tions have  been  quoted'  by  Romanist  writers  as  indicat- 
ing a  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  purgatory,  and  in  the 
efticacy  of  prayers  on  behalf  of  the  dead.  The  im- 
portance of  this  subject  will  justify  its  careful  ex- 
amination. Many  of  the  examples  quoted  by  Roman 
controversialists  are  not  precatory  at  all,  but  simply 
declarative.*  But  there  are  others  in  which  the  ex- 
pression assumes  a  distinctively  optative  form.     Some 


\- 


INTELLIGES — "  You  who  read  this  epitaph  and  doubt  whether  spirits 
exist,  invoke  us,  and  by  our  answer  you  will  know." 

♦  Thus  in  Rock's  Hierurgia,  a  standard  Romanist  authority,  such 
expressions  as  req  in  pace  are  explained  sometimes  in  defiance  of 
the  grammatical  construction  of  the  context,  as  signifying  "  Mayest  thou 
rest,"  as  if  reqviescas,  instead  of,  in  analogy  with  numerous  other 
examples,  "  he  rests," — reqviescit.  Sometimes  the  cardinal  word  is 
entirely  omitted,  as  in  the  expression,  in  pace  et  ue.nedictione, 
which  is  quite  unwarrantably  translated,  *'  May  you  rest  in  peace 
and  benediction."  ' 


^Wfci. 


442 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


of  these  may  be  of  comparatively  late  date,  as  the  graf- 
fiii^  or  inscriptions  of  pilgrims  near  the  more  celebrated 
shrines,  of  which  we  have  seen  examples  at  the  so-called 
"papal  crypt."  But  others  are  unquestionably  part  of 
the  original  epitaphs.  We  find,  for  instance,  such  ex- 
pressions as  VIVAS — "  May  you  live  ;  "  vivas  in  deo,  ZHC 
EN  0Ei2 — "  May  you  live  in  God;  "  vivas  in  eternvm — 
"  May  you  live  forever;  "  eterna  tibi  lvx — "  Eternal 
light  to  thee  ;  "  estote  in  pace-  •"  Pe  in  peace  ;  "  vivas 
INTER  sanctos — "  May  you  live  among  the  holy  ones ;  " 
vivas  in  nomine  xti — "  May  you  live,  in  the  name  of 
Christ ;  "  ZHCHC  {sic)  IN  AEO  XPICTO— "  May  you  live  in 
God  Christ;"  vivas  in  domino  zezv — "May  you  live 
in  the  Lord  Jesus;"  vlvas  vincas— "  May  you  live, 
may  vou  conquer;"  dormitio  tva  .  ^ter  dicaeis, 
(AIKAIOIC) — "May    your    sleep  be   among    the    just;" 

DEVS     TIBI     REFRIGERET — SPIRIT  VM    TVVM     REFRIGERET 

— "God  refresh  thee,  refresh  thy  spirit;"  EIPHNH  COI 
— "  Peace  to  thee ;  "  EN  EIPHNH  sor  TO  hneyma — 
"In  peace  be  thy  spirit;"  O  eEOC  anaHAYCH  THN 
*YXHN  EN  CKHNAIC  afiqn — "  God  give  thy  soul 
rest  in  the  tents  of  the  holy."  These,  it  will  be  per- 
ceived, are  not  intercessions  for  the  dead,  but  mere 
apostrophes  addressed  to  them,  as  is  apparent  in 
the  following  :  ZQTiKE  ZHCAICEN  {sic)  KYPIQ  0APP1,  {sic)— 
"  Zoticus,  mayest  thou  live  in  the  Lord.  Be  of  good 
cheer."  They  were  no  more  prayers  for  the  souls  of 
the  departed  than  is  Byron's  verse,  "  Bright  be  the  place 
of  thy  rest." 

But  the  wish  sometimes  takes  the  form  of  a  prayer 
for  the  beloved  one,  as  MNHCGHC  IHCOYC  O  KYPIOC 
TEKNON  EM  .  .  .  — "  Remember,  O  Lord  Jesus,  our 
child ;  "  AEOYC  XPICTOYC  OMNIHOTEC  CHIPIT  .  .  . 
TOY   PE*  .  IFEPE    IN  )^ ,  (Latin   in   Greek  characters,) 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings. 


443 


|i 


— "  May  the  Almighty  God  Christ  refresh  thy  spirit  in 
Christ."  NHMNHBH  EATTOT  Q  GEOC  ICTOTC  AFiNAC  {sic) 
— "  Remember  him,  O  God,  among  thy  lambs ;  " 
MNHCeHTl  KTPIE  THC  KOIMHCEGC  THC  AOYAHC  COT  AN- 
AHATCON   THN    i'YXHN  TOT  AOYAOT  COT  EN  TO  *QTlNSi 

EN  Ti2  ANAi-TSEilC  EIC  KOAHON  ABPAAM,— "  Remember, 
O  God,  the  sleep  of  thy  servant ;  give  rest  to  the 
soul  of  thy  servant  in  the  light,  in  the  refreshment  in 
Abraham's  bosom  :  "  domine  ne  advmbretvr  spiritvs 
— "  O  Lord  !  let  not  (this)  soul  be  brought  into  dark- 
ness ;  "  MNHC0H  ATTOT  O  GEOC  EIC  TOTC  Ali2NAC— "  May 
God  remember  him  forever."* 

These  intense  expressions  of  affection  of  the  ardent 
Italian  nature  f  that  would  fain  follow  the  loved  object 
— "  though  lost  to  sight  to  memory  dear  " — beyond  the 
barrier  of  the  tomb,  are  surely  a  slight  foundation  on 
which  to  build  the  vast  system  of  mercenary  masses  for 
the  dead.  And  yet  they  are  the  only  evidences  that 
keen  Roman  controversialists  can  adduce  from  these 
Christian  inscriptions  of  the  first  six  centuries.!  And, 
be  it  remembered,  these  inscriptions  were  not  a  for- 
mulated and  authoritative  creed  framed  by  learned  the- 
ologians, but  the  untutored  utterances  of  humble  peas- 
ants, many  of  whom  were  recent  converts  from  pagan- 

*  Sometimes  the  modernized  form  of  the  language  indicates  the 
late  origin  of  graffiti  found  on  ancient  monuments,  as  in  the  follow- 
ing, PREGA  ILA  PER  SILVINA,  VIVI  ILA  NEL  DIO  CRISTO. 

f  The  adoring  love  of  Cicero  for  his  daughter  found  expression  in 
the  building  of  a  temple  to  her  memory. 

\  Rock  quotes  them  as  "proof"  that  the  primitive  Christians  be- 
lieved that  the  soul  of  the  deceased  might  be  in  an  intermediate 
state,  where  the  efficacy  of  such  aspirations  could  reach  him,  and  his 
spirit  could  be  refreshed  and  benefitted  by  the  supplications  of  his 
sui^viving  brethren. — Hierurgia,  p.  322.  He  givjs  several  examples 
similar  to  the  above  ;  but  no  accumulation  of  such  evidence  affords  the 
slightest  warrant  for  the  corrupt  practice  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 


I 


444 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


ism  or  Judaism,  in  which  religions  such  expressions 
were  a  customary  sepulchral  formula.  The  accompanying 
examples  indicate  the  prevalei\ce  of  this  practice  in  pagan 
epigraphy:  ave  or  have  vale — "  Hail,  farewell ;  "  di  tibi 
BENEFACiANT — "  May  the  gods  be  good  to  thee;  "  ossa 
TVA  BENE  QviESCANT — "  May  thy  bones  rest  well ;  "  sit 
TIBI  TERRA  LEVIS — "  May  the  earth  be  light  upon  thee ;  " 
XAIPE  ETnAOEl— EYAPOMEl — "  Rejoice,  a  safe  voyage, 
a  prosperous  journey ;  "  ErtTXEl  KTPIA  KAl  AQH  COI 
OCIPIC  TO  i'TXPON  TAS2P— "  Be  of  good  cheer,  O 
lady,  and  to  thee  Osiris  give  to  quaff  the  cooling 
water;"*  EN  MTPOIC  COI  TEKNON  H  i-YXH — "In 
precious  odours  be  thy  soul,  my  child ;  "  hic  manes 

PLACIDA     NOCTE    QVIESCANT     ET    SVPER    IN    NIDO  MARA- 

thonia  cantet  aedon — *'  Here  may  the  manes  rest 
throughout  the  placid  night,  and  above  thee  in  her  nest 
may  the  Marathonian  nightingale  sing ;  "  bene  valeas 

MATER  ROGAT  TE  VT  ME  AD  TE  RECIPIAS  VALE "  Fare- 
well, thy  mother  prays,  O  take  me  to  thyself  again, 
farewell."  f  In  the  Jewish  epitaphs  these  acclama- 
tions are  much  more  common  than  in  the  Christian  in- 
scriptions. The  following  is  an  example  :  marcia  bona 
IVDEA  DORMiTio  IN  BONIS — "  Marcia,  a  good  Jewess, 
thy  sleep  be  among  the  good."  On  many  modern  He- 
brew tombstones  are  the  words,  "  Let  his  soul  be  bound 
up  in  the  bundle  of  life." 

Small  wonder,  therefore,  that  those  Christian  converts 
who  had  been  brought  up  in  pagan  or  Jewish  supersti- 
tion should  retain  traces  of  this  ancient  custom  so  con- 
genial to  the  sympathies  of  the  human  heart,  unpre- 
scient  as  they  were  of  the  baneful  results  to  which  it 
would  lead.  Their  freedom  of  language  had  not  yet 
been  restricted,  as  Bishop  Kip  remarks,  to  the  cold 
♦  Bui^on.  f  Ibid. 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings, 


445 


rules  of  ordinary  logic  by  the  fear  of  deadly  heresy. 
We  know,  indeed,  from  the  testimony  of  the  Fathers, 
that  mention  of  the  dead  was  frequently  made  in  the 
prayers  of  the  church.  These  prayers,  however,  were 
oficr  thanksgivings — ^X^  evxapLori^pio^ — for  those  who 
were  asleep  in  Christ,  or  commemorations  of  their  vir- 
tues for  ti^e  improvement  of  the  living.*  Many  of  the 
Fathers  vigorously  protest  against  the  idea  that  the 
dead  can  bf.  benefitted  by  any  prayers  on  their  behalf, 
and  strongl)  assert  their  changeless  state  in  the  other 
world.f  The  notion,  however,  of  the  efficacy  of  these 
prayers  gradually  crept  into  the  church  ;  but  that  they 
were  not  conceived  to  procure  remission  from  purgato- 
rial flames  is  evident  from  the  fact  that,  even  at  a  com- 
paratively late  period,  they  were  offered  on  behalf  of  the 
patriarchs,  prophets,  apostles,  martyrs,  and  saints,  and 
even  of  the  Virgin  Mary  herself,  who  were  all  believed 
to  be  in  the  immediate  presence  of  God.  At  length 
even  this  tremendous  error  found  entrance  into  the 
church,  and  gave  into  the  hands  of  a  mercenary  hie- 
rarchy the  keys  of  heaven  and  hell. 

But  in  the  testimony  of  the  Catacombs  is  no  trace 
of  that  torturing  doctrine  which  hangs  the  heart  on 
tenter-hooks  of  dread  suspense,  and  wrings  from  the 
lacerated  affections  a  dole  to  a  hireling  priesthood  for 

*  Ut  ex  recordatione  eorum  proBciamus. — Orig.  in  Rom.,  xii. 
These  commemorations  of  the  d^^parted  were  generally  celebrated  on 
the  anniversaries  of  their  death — their  birthday  as  it  x/as  called — Ob- 
lationes  pro  defunctis  pro  natalitiis,  annua  die  facimus — Tertul.,  De 
Coron.  Mil.,  c.  3  ;  of.  De  Afonogam.,  c.  10. 

f  Quando  isthnc  excessum  fuerit,  nullus  jam  locus  poenitentiae  est, 
nullus  satisfactionis  effectus. — Cypr.  aJ  Demet.,  g  16;  cf.  Greg.  Naz., 
de  Rebus  suis,  and  Hieron.  in  Galat.,  c.  6.  The  modern  Greek  church 
offers  prayers  for  the  dead  without  believing  in  the  doctrine  of 
purgatory. 


446 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


the  exercise  of  their  ghostly  functions  in  delivering  the 
souls  of  the  departed  from  burning  flame.  There  is  no 
hint  in  their  cheerful  art  and  pious  epitaphs  of  the 
Dantean  horrors,  the  worse  than  Sisyphean  toil,  and 
torments  more  dire  than  those  of  Tantalus,  under  the 
intense  conception  of  which  for  centuries  the  heart  of 
Christendom  was  wrung.  No ;  the  early  church  believed 
the  pious  dead  already  to  enjoy  the  ampler  life,  the 
more  ethereal  air,  and  sweet  beatitude  of  paradise.* 

Associated  with  the  Romish  practic^  of  praying  for 
the  dead  is  that  of  praying  to  them.  For  this  there  is 
still  less  authority  in  the  testimony  of  the  Catacombs 
than  for  the  former.  There  are,  indeed,  indications  that 
this  custom  was  not  unknown,  but  they  are  very  rare 
and  exceptional.  In  all  the  dated  inscriptions  of  the 
first  six  centuries,  thirteen  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  in  number,  there  is  only  one  invocation  of  the 
departed.  It  is  that  of  the  year  380,  already  given,  in 
which  from  the  neart  of  an  orphaned  and  ignorant  f  girl, 
in  the  hour  of  her  bitter  sorrow  and  bereavement,  is 
wrung  the  cry,  pro  hvnc  vnvm  ora  svbolem — "  O  pray 
for  this,  thine  only  child."  The  few  undated  inscrip- 
tions of  a  similar  character  are  probably  of  as  late,  or 
it  may  be  of  a  much  later,  date  than  this ;  and  the  in- 
vocation is  almost  invariably  uttered  by  some  relative 
of  the  deceased,  as  if  prompted  by  natural  affection 
rather  than  by  religious  feeling.  Thus  we  have  such 
examples  as  the  following  :  pete  pro  filiis  tvis — "  Pray 
for  thy  children;  "  pete  et  roga  pro  fratres  et  so- 
BOLES  Tvos,  (j/V) — "  Entreat  and  pray  for  your  brothers 


*  The  doctrine  of  purgatory  was  first  preached  by  Gregory  the 
Great ;  and  this  fiery  realm,  so  rich  in  revenue  of  tears  and  blood, 
was  afterward  formally  annexed  to  the  papal  dominions  by  a  bull. 

f  See  the  barbarous  Latinity  of  the  inscription,  p.  426. 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings. 


447 


and  children  ;  "  ora  pro  parentibvs  tvis — "  Pray  for 
thy  parents ;  "  vibas  in  pace  et  pete  pro  nobis — "  May 
you  live  in  peace  and  pray  for  us ;  "  vibas  in  deo  et 
roga — "  May  you  live  in  God  and  pray ;  "  in  oration- 

IBV3  TVIS  ROGES  PRO  NOBIS    QVIA  SCIMVS  TE  IN  ^ — "In 

your  prayers,  pray  for  us,  for  we  know  you  (to  be)  in 

Christ."  AIONTCIOC  NHHIOC  AKAKOC  ENGAAE  KEITE 
META  TfiN  ArinN  MNHCKECeE  AE  KAI  HMQN  EN  TAIC 
AriAIC  YMBN   nPEYXAC    KAI    TOY    TAYi-ATOC    KAI   TPA- 

tANTOC — "  Dionysius  a  spotless  infant,  lies  here  with 
the  saints.  O  remember  us  also  in  thy  holy  prayers; 
aye,  and  the  sculptor  and  writer  as  well."  The  last 
clause  is  in  smaller  characters  as  if  an  afterthought.* 

These  few  examples  among  eleven  thousand  inscrip- 
tions, of  which  the  greater  number  are  of  post-Constan- 
tinian  date,  are  a  slight  foundation  for  the  vast  Roman 
system  of  the  invocation  of  saints.  "  If  this  doctrine," 
says  Bishop  Kip,  "  so  much  in  unison  with  many  of  the 
deepest  feelings  of  our  nature,  had  been  held  by  the 
primitive  church,  we  should  have  found  it  written 
broadly  and  clearly  every-where  through  these  epitaphs. 
Its  proof  would  not  be  left  to  half  a  dozen  inscriptions 
among  thousands  which  plainly  declare  the  reverse." 
How  different  from  these  lowly  crypts  is  a  modern 
Romish  sepulchral  chapel,  with  its  ceaseless  appeals  by 


*  Some  of  the  examples  of  alleged  invocation  of  saints  given  by 
Romanist  writers  are  altogether  gratuitous  assumptions.  Thus  the 
letters  P.  T.  PR.  N.  S.  have  been,  without  the  slightest  warrant,  expanded 
thus,  Pete  pro  nobis,  "Pray  for  us."  Others  are  merely  requests  to 
be  remembered  by  the  dear  departed,  as  AlONYCIN  EIC  MNIAN 
EXETE — "  Have  ye  in  remembrance  Dionysius.  "  'Wi^  graffiti  of 
the  pilgrims  at  the  shrines  of  the  more  celebrated  martyrs,  in  which 
are  occasional  invocations  of  the  dead,  are  no  criteria  of  primitive 
belief  and  practice,  for  these  are  of  every  age  down  to  comparatively 
late  mediaeval  times.     The  example  in  the  text  is  from  Burgon. 


(f 


44S 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


the  dead  for  the  prayers  of  the  living,  and  by  the  living 
for  the  prayers  of  the  dead  ;  with  its  ever-recurring  Orate 
pro  anima^  and  Maria  sanctissima^  or  a  pro  nobis.  We 
search  in  vain  through  all  the  corridors  of  those  an- 
cient sanctuaries  of  the  Christian  faith  for  a  single  ex- 
ample of  these  now  universal  Romish  formulae. 

The  invocation  of  saints  probably  sprang  from  the 
superstitious  reverence  paid  to  the  martyrs  after  the 
age  of  persecution  had  passed.  Miserere  nostrarum  pre- 
cum^  "  Pitying,  hear  our  prayer,"  sings  Prudentius  at  the 
close  of  the  fourth  century  in  his  hymn  to  St.  Vincent. 

VT  DAMASI  PRECIBVS  FAVEAS  PRECOR  INCLVTA  MARTYR 

"  Illustrious  martyr,  I  beseech  thee  to  aid  my  prayers," 
writes  Damasus  about  the  same  period  in  his  epitaph,  on 
St.  Agnes ;  and  in  an  epitaph  on  his  sister  Irene  he  ex- 
claims,   NOSTRI    REMINISCERE    VIRGO   VT    TVA    PER   DOM- 

INVM  PRAESTET  MiHi  FACVLA  LVMEN — "  Remember  me, 
O  virgin,  that  by  God's  help  your  torch  may  give  me 
light." 

Thus  was  developed  in  course  of  time  a  vast  celestial 
hierarchy  endowed  with  the  attributes  of  Deity,*  usurp- 
ing the  intercessory  office  of  Christ,  and  rivalling  the 
polytheism  of  paganism.  The  primitive  Fathers  repu- 
diated the  worship  of  any  saint  or  angel,  or  the  inter- 
vention of  any  mediator  with  God  but  Christ.  "  We 
worship  the  Son  of  God,"  write  the  elders  of  Smyrna, 
"but  the  martyrs  we  only  love."  f  "We  sacrifice  not 
to  martyrs,"  says  Augustine,  "  but  to  the  one  God,  both 

*  Qui  lumine  Christi 
Cuncta  et  operta  vides,  longeque  absentia  cernis. 

— Paulin.,  Nat,  \i. 

See  also  the  Litany  of  the  Saints  in  Romish  Missal. 
Tlov  rov  Oeov  TtpooKWovfitv  Tovg  de  fiupTvpag  ayanC>/iev. — Euseb., 
iv,  35. 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings. 


449 


theirs  and  ours;  "*  "nor  is  our  religion,"  he  indignantly 
adds,  "  the  worship  of  dead  men."f  "It  is  the  devil 
who  has  introduced  this  homage  of  angels,"  says  Chry- 
sostom ;  J  and  the  Council  of  Laodicea,  (A.  D.  361 ,) 
forbade  their  invocation  as  idolatrous  and  a  forsaking 
of  Christ.  § 

We  now  turn  from  these  polemical  subjects  to  the 
consideration  of  the  doctrines,  common  to  Christendom, 
of  the  trinity  of  the  Godhead  and  the  divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ.  We  know  from  ecclesiastical  history  that  nu- 
merous heresies  sprang  up  in  the  early  centuries  with 
reference  to  these  august  themes ;  but  no  evidence  ac- 
cuses the  church  in  the  Catacombs  of  departure  from 
the  primitive  and  orthodox  faith  in  these  important 
respects.  Frequently,  indeed,  the  belief  in  these  car- 
dinal doctrines  is  so  strongly  asserted  as  to  sugj^tjst,  that 
it  is  in  designed  and  vigorous  protest  against  the  con- 
temporary heretical  notions. 

The  doctrine  of  the  essential  divinity  of  the  Son  of 
God  is  repeatedly  and  strikingly  affirmed.  Not  only  are 
the  symbolical  letters  Alpha  and  Omega  often  associated 
with  the  sacred  monogram,  in  allusion  to  the  sublime 
passage  in  the  Revelation  descriptive  of  the  eternity  of 

*  Nee  .  .  .  sacrificemus  martyribus,  sed  uni  Deo  et  martyruin  et 
nostro. — De  Civ.  Dei.,  22,  10. 

f  Non  sic  nobis  religio  cultus  hominum  mdrtuonim. — De  Ver. 
Relig.,  c.  55. 

\  'O  iia&oKo^  TO.  Tuv  uyyiTiCiv  iTTeicrriyaye. — ffo//l:<,  9. 

§  Oi»  ^e?  XpioTiavov^  uyyehw^  QVOfiiil^Eiv. — Can.,  ^S-  The  "saints" 
of  the  primitive  church,  says  Schaff,  were  the  whole  body  of  believers, 
and  not  a  narrow  spiritual  aristocracy,  as  in  the  Romish  church.  The 
Council  of  Constantinople,  A.  D.  712,  decreed  that  "  Whosoever  will 
not  avail  himself  of  the  intercession  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  let  him  be 
accursed."  "  May  God  Almighty  forgive  your  sin  by  the  merits  of 
Our  Lady,"  said  Gregory  VII.  to  Beatrice  and  Matilda.— /ra«/r««, 

vJ,  1235. 

29 


4SO 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


Christ,  but  his  name  and  Messianic  title  are  variously 
combined  with  that  of  the  Deity  so  as  to  indicate  their 
identity.  Thus  we  have  the  expressions  zhchc  in  deo 
XPICTO,  {sic) — EN  GEO  KYPEIO  XEICTQ,  {sic) — VIBAS 
IN  CHRiSTO  DEO — IN  DOMINO  lEsv — "  May  you  live  in 
God  Christ — in  God.  the  Lord  Christ — in  Christ  God — 
in  the  Lord  Jesus."  Or  the  divine  attributes  are  still 
more  strongly  expressed  as  follows :  AEOYC  XPICTOTC 
OMNinOTEC,  {sic) — "God  Christ  Almighty;"  deo  sanc 
XRO  VN  Lvc,  {sic) — "  God,  holy  Christ,  only  light ;  "  deo 
SANC  ]^  VNi,  {sic) — "To  Christ,  the  one  holy  God." 
We  have  seen  the  impression  in  the  plaster  of  a  grave 
whereby  some  orthodox  believer,  probably  in  protest 
against  the  Arian  heresy,  has  *'  set  to  his  seal "  that 
"Christ  is  God."     Fig.  119,  page  386.* 

Mention  is  made  of  the  three  persons  of  the  Trinity 
separately  in  several  epitaphs  in  which  the  deceased  is 

*  We  have  frequent  evidence  of  the  zeal  of  the  early  Christians  in 
the  study  of  the  Scriptures.  The  Bible  v^as  not  the  sealed  book  that 
it  is  in  modern  Rome.  Jerome  counsels  that  it  be  frequently  read 
and  scarcely  ever  laid  aside,  that  it  be  studied  not  as  a  task  but  for 
delight  and  instruction,  and  that  some  of  it  be  learned  by  heart  every 
day. — Divinas  Scripturas  scepius  lege,  imo  nunquam  de  manibus  tuis 
sacra  lectio  deponatur. — Ep.  ad  Nepotian.,  7.  Non  ad  laborem,  sed 
ad  delectationem  et  irstmctionem  anima;. — Ep.  ad  Demetriad,  \^. 
Nee  licebat  cuiquam  sororum  ignorare  psalmos,  et  non  de  Scripturis 
Sanctis  quotidie  aliquid  discere. — Ep.  ad  Eustoch,  ig. 

We  find  no  traces  in  the  early  period  of  the  church  of  tlie  fierce 
intolerance  and  dreadful  anathemas  that  mark  modern  Romanism. 
TertuUian  in  golden  words  asserts  that  liberty  of  conscience  which 
a  Dominic  and  Torquemada  afterward  so  nithlessly  trampled  under 
foot.  "  It  is  a  fundamental  human  right,"  he  exclaims,  "  that  every 
man  should  worship  according  to  his  own  conviction.  It  is  no  part  of 
religion  to  compel  religion." — Ad  Scap.,  2.  Compare  also  the  wise 
words  of  Cassiodorus:  "Cum  divinitas  patiatur  multas  religiones 
esse,  nos  unam  non  audemus  imponere.  Retinemus  enim  legisse, 
voluntarie  sacrificandum  esse  domino,  non  cujusquam  cogentis  im- 
perio."  .         ,. 


Their  Doctrinal  Teachings. 


451 


said  to  sleep  in  deo — in  christo — in  spiritv  sancto, 
and   collectively  in  the    following   of  date    403,  qvin- 

TILIANVS    homo     DEI     CONFIR     ANS    TRINITATEM    AMANS 

CASTiTATEM  RESPVENS  MVND\  M — "  Quintilianus,  a  man 
of  God,  holding  fast  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  lov- 
ing chastity,  contemning  the  world."  In  later  exam- 
ples from  Aqueilia  and  other  places  we  find  the  formulae, 

in    nomine     SANCTAE     TRINITATIS — PATRIS    ET  FILII    ET 

SPiRiTVS  SANCTi — "  In  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity — 
of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spiri^  "* 

Patris  X  -idence  informs  us  that  both  these  doc- 
trin.es  '  ere  ."irmly  held  by  the  primitive  Christians. 
The  doxologies,  benedictions,  and  baptismal  formulae, 
of  the  ar  :ient  liturgies  are  all  in  the  name  of  the  triune 
God.  The  divinity  of  the  three  persons  and  at  the 
same  time  the  unity  of  the  Godhead  are  distinctly  and 

♦  The  pagan  Lucian  satirizes  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
"  one  in  three  and  three  in  one  " — "Ev  Ik  TpiCw,  koI  i^kvhq  -pla. — P/ii- 
lopatr.y  ad  fine.  Pliny  mentions  the  Christian  worship  of  Christ  as 
God,  "  Carmenque  Christo  quasi  Deo." — Ep.  ad  Had.  In  response  to 
the  heathen  accusation  of  worshipping  a  mere  man,  a  crucified  im- 
postor— iLvinKokoTTia^rvTriv  an<l)iaTT/v,  (Luc,  de  Alort.  Pereg.,)  the 
Christians  reply  that  he  is  also  God :  T/of  koX  narrip  elg  ufKjtu  KVTriog 
— Clem.,  Paed.,  iii,  12  ;  "  Deus  est  et  Dei  Filius,  et  unus  ambo." — Ter- 
iw\.,  Apol.,  30.  In  contrast  to  Christian  monotheism,  Tertullian  ridi- 
cules the  polytheism  of  the  heathen,  and  compares  the  contests  of  the 
gods  in  Homer  to  those  of  gladiators. — Ad.  Nat.,  10.  Im'tating  the 
keen  irony  of  Isaiah,  he  exclaims,  "  You  make  a  cooking  pot  of  Saturn, 
a  frying  pan  of  Minerva.  Even  tlfe  mice  gnaw,  the  spiders  defoul 
your  gods." — Ibid.,  ii,  12.  The  trinity  of  Plato  and  the  Hindoo  sages 
was  a  mere  speculative  subtlety.  Tertullian  spumed  the  fusion  of 
philosophy  and  Christian  doctrine.  "  Away  with  such  mottled  Chris- 
tianity," he  exclaims. — De  Prcescrip.  Hceret.,  c.  7.  Compare  his 
noble  confession  of  faith  in  God,  the  eternal  Spirit,  an  incorporeal 
essence,  the  true  Prometheus  who  gave  order  to  the  world,  conclud- 
ing with  the  noble  words,  "  We  say,  and  before  all  men  we  say,  and 
torn  and  bleeding  under  your  tortures  we  cry  out,  '  We  worship  God 
through  Christ.'" — Apol,  17-22. 


452 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


often  asserted.      This  is  also  affirmed  in  frequent  Chris- 
tian inscriptions  "to  the  one  (iod" — i>ko  vno. 

Such,  then,  is  the  testimony  of  the  Catacombs  con- 
cerning the  doctrines  of  the  earlv  believers — a  testimony 
i:iore  favourable  to  the  general  character  of  ancient 
Christianity  than  the  writings  of  the  P'athers  and  eccle- 
siastical historians  of  the  times ;  probably,  as  Dr.  Maitland 
remarks,  because  "  the  sepulchral  tal)let  is  more  con- 
genial to  the  expression  of  pious  feeling  than  the  con- 
troversial epistle,  or  even  the  much  needed  episcopal 
rebuke."  We  know,  indeed,  from  these  latter  sources, 
that  heresy,  strife,  recrimination,  and  mutual  anathemas 
early  disgraced  the  religion  of  peace  and  love.  But  no 
sounds  of  this  profane  controversy  disturbed  those  quiet 
resting-places  of  the  Christian  dead.  The  expression 
of  faith  and  hope  and  joy  and  peace — the  peace  of  God 
that  passeth  all  understanding — every-where  appears. 
The  stricken  and  sorrowing  believ^er  burst  not  forth  like 
the  heathen  in  passionate  complainings  and  impotent 
rage  against  the  gods,  but  bowed  in  meek  submission  to 
His  will  who  doeth  all  things  well.  With  devout  and 
chastened  spirit  he  bore  the  ills  of  life,  and  with  calm 
confidence  and  holy  joy  he  met  the  doom  of  death, 

Not  like  the  quarry  slave,  at  night 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon  ;  but,  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  tnist,  approached  his  grave, 
Like  one  who  wrapped  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lay  down  to  pleasant  dreams.* 

•  Biyant's  Thanatopsis, 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


453 


CHAPTER  III. 

CHRISTIAN     LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    AS    READ    IN    THE 

CATACOMBS. 


The  inscriptions  of  the  Catacombs  give  us  many  inter- 
esting indications  of  the  social  position,  domestic  rela- 
tions, and  general  character  of  the  priniitive  Christians, 
as  well  as  of  their  religious  belief.  They  lift  the  veil 
of  ages  from  the  buried  past  and  cause  it  to  live  again,  lit 
up  with  a  thousand  natural  touches  which  we  seek  in 
vain  from  books.  They  bridge  the  gulf  of  time,  and 
make  us  in  a  sense  contemporaries  of  the  early  church. 
They  give  us  an  insight  into  the  daily  life  and  occupa- 
tions of  the  ancient  believers,  of  which  no  mention  is 
made  in  the  crowded  page  of  history.  The  winding 
Catacombs  are  the  whispering  gallery  of  the  bygone 
ages.  Their  humble  epitaphs  are  echoes  thrilling  with 
a  deep  and  tender  meaning,  too  low  and  gentle  to  be 
heard  across  the  strife  of  intervening  years.  In  their 
touching  pathos  we  seem  to  hear  the  sob  of  natural  sorrow 
for  the  loved  and  lost,  "  the  fall  of  kisses  on  unanswer- 
ing  clay,"  the  throbbings  of  the  human  heart  in  the 
hour  of  its  deepest  emotion,  when  the  parting  pang  un- 
seals the  founts  of  feeling  in  the  soul.  We  read  of  the 
yearnings  of  an  affection  that  reaches  beyond  the  grave, 
and  hungers  for  reunion  with  the  dear  depa»ted  above 
the  skies;  the  expression  of  an  inextinguishable  love  that 
death  itself  cannot  destroy.  We  see  the  emblematic 
palm  and  crown  rudely  scratched  upon  the  grave 
wherein  the  Christian  athlete,  having  fought   the  fight 


454 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


and  kept  the  faith,  has  entered  into  dreamless  rest.  We 
read,  too,  the  records  of  the  worldly  rank  of  the  de- 
ceased— sometimes  exalted,  more  often  lowly  and  ob- 
scure— frequently  accompanied  by  the  emblems  of 
their  humble  toil. 

The  very  names  written   on   these   marble  slabs  are 
often  beautifully  and  designedly  expressive  of  Christian 
sentiment  or  character.     Sometimes  the  correspondence 
of  name  and  character  is  indicated,  as  in  the  following : 
SIMHAIKIA   H    KAI   KAAQNYM02 — "  Sin  plicia    who    was 
also  rightly  so-called;"  hic   vervs   qvi  semper  vera 
LOCVTvs — *'  Here  lies  Verus,  who   ever  spoke  verity." 
These    names  were   frequently   assumed  in  adult  age, 
when  the  convert  from  paganism  laid  aside  his  former 
designation,  often  of  an  idolatrous  meaning,  in  order  to 
adopt  one  more  consistent  with  the  Christian  profession. 
Thus  we   have    such   beautifully   significant  names  as 
INNOCENTIA,  "  Inuoceuce ;  "  constanti a,  "  Constancy ;  " 
PRVDENTiA, "  Prudence ;  "  dignitas,  "  Dignity ;"  decen- 
TiA,   "Comeliness;"    peregrinVs,  "A  pilgrim;"  sab- 
BATA, "  Rest;  "  ANASTASIA,  "  The  resurrection ;  "  ni2TIS 
"  Faith ;  "  EAHIS  and  spes,  "  Hope ;  "  AFAnH,  "  Love ; ' 
EIPHNH,     "  Peace ;  "     AFAeH,      "  Good  ;  "       EYSEBI02 
"  Pious ;  "   ETKAPniA,  "  Good   fruit ;  "  probvs,  "  Just ; ' 
FELIX,  " Happy ;"  fidelis,    "Faithful;"    fortvnata 
"  Fortunate  ;  "   vervs,   "  True;  "    dignvs,  "  Worthv ; ' 
CASTA,  "  Pure  ;  "  benigkvs,  "  Kind ;  "  nobilis,    "  No- 
ble ;  "  AMABiLis,    "  Amiable ;  "     ingenva,  "  Sincere ;  * 
VENEROSA,    "Venerable;"    gavdiosa,    "Rejoicing;' 
grata,  "Pleasing;  "  candidvs,  "  Frank;  "  dvlcis  and 
TATKYS,    "  Sweet ;  "  severa,  "  Grave ;  "  with  the  com- 
paratives,   felicior,   nobilior,  etc.,  and   the   superla- 
tives, felicissima,  "  Most  happy;  "  nobilissima,  "  Most 
noble;"    fidelissima,    "Most    faithful;"    dignissima, 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


455 


"Most  worthy;"  dvlcissima,  "Most  sweet;"  and  the 
like* 

Sometimes,  too,  a  pious  word  or  phrase  was  used  as  a 
proper  name,  as  among  the  ancient  Hebrews  and  the 
English  Puritans.  Thus  we  have  such  examples  as, 
QvoD  vvLT  DEVs,  "What  God  wills;"  devs  dedit, 
"God  gave;"  adeodatvs  f  and  adeodata,  "Given 
by  God  ;  "  GEOTOKOI,  '  God-born  ;  "  GE0Ai2PA.  "  God- 
given  ;  "  DEO  ORATIA,  "Thanks  to  God;  "  UK0<MA02, 
"  God-beloved  ;  "{  renatvs,  "  Dorn  again  ;  "  redemp- 
Tvs,  "Redeemed;"  acceptissima,  "Very  well  pleas- 
ing; "  noNiFACivs,  "  Well-doer;  "  KYriPOlAKK'lOS,  "  Ac- 
cepted "  or  "  Acceptable;  "  and  ZiZZOMENH,  "  Saved. "§ 
De  Rossi  thinks  that  the  CKpressions,  ancilla  dei, 
"Handmaid  of  God;"  and  servvs  dei,  "Servant  of 
God,"  are  sometimes  proper  names. 

Some  of  the  names  in  these  inscriptions  were  proba- 
bly given  by  the  heathen  in  reproach  and  contempt, 
and  were  afterward  adopted  by  the  Christians  in  humd- 
ity  and  self-abasement.  It  is  difficult  to  account  other- 
wise for  such  names  as,  contvmeliosvs,  "  Injurious ;  " 


*  Some  of  these  occur  also  on  pagan  tombs.  •    ° 

f  This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the  name  of  Augustine's  son, 
whose  early  death  he  so  pathetically  laments.  *  - 

X  Compare  also  the  classic  names  Diodorus,  Herodotus,  Athena- 
dorus,  Heliodorus,  ApoUodorus,  Isidorus — the  gift  of  Zeus,  of  Mere, 
of  Athene,  of  the  Sun,  of  Apollo,  of  Isis ;  and  Diogenes,  Hcrmog-      a 
enes — born  of  Zeus,  of  Hermes  ;  also  the  beautiful  German  names 
Gottlieb,  Gottlob — Beloved  of  God,  Praise  God,  etc, 

§  Compare  the  Puritan  names :  Accepted,  Redeemed,  Called, 
More  Fruit,  Kill  Sin,  Fly  Debate,  and  even  lengthy  texts  of  Scrip- 
ture. See  Neal's  Puritanr  ii,  133,  third  foot  note.  In  New  England 
graveyards  may  still  be  fo  !  such  names  as  Assurance,  Faith,  Hope, 
Charity,  Patience,  Persev.,  ice,  and  all  the  cardmal  virtues,  together 
with  Tribulation,  and  others  still  more  ominous.  Mr.  Wellbeloved  is 
the  name  of  a  living  person.     See  also  the  French  Bien  Ai//ie,  etc.        " 


456 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


ffl  ^   [  j 

■f  ■  i 

1  ■ ' 

.  J,  y .«' 

til 

ij 

'■  If  1 

^'  J  i   i' 

!!'' 

i 

CALAMITOSA,  "  Destructive  ;  "  proiectvs,  "  Cast  out ;  " 
SERViLis,  "  Servile ;  "  and  especially  such  opprobrious  ep- 
ithets as  FiMUsandsTERCORiA,"  Dung  "and  "Filth."  In 
the  last  there  may  be  an  allusion  to  the  words  of  St.  Paul, 
(i  Cor.  iv,  13,)  "We  are  made  as  the  filth  of  the  world, 
and  are  the  oifscouring  of  all  things  unto  this  day." 
Thus  the  primitive  believers  bound  persecution  as  a 
wreath  about  their  brows,  exulted  in  the  glorious  infamy, 
arid  made  the  brand  of  shame  the  badge  of  honour. 

A  few  Scripture  names  occur,  and  have  a  strangely 
foreign  look  amid  those  of  Greek  or  Latin  origin  by 
which  they  are  surrounded.  Thus  we  have  Petrus, 
Joannes,  Paulus,  Stephanus,  Rebecca,  Elizabeth, 
Susanna,  and  Maria.  The  extreme  rarity  of  the  last, 
however,  since  so  popular  throughout  Christendom,  is  an 
indication  that  the  homage  of  the  Virgin  Mary  is  the 
growth  of  later  times. 

The  names  of  animals  were  oftep  applied  to  both 
Christians  and  pagans,  as  Aper,  Leo,  Leopardus,  Por- 
cella,  Muscula,  Tigris,  Ursus,  and  Ursa ;  and  some  of 
these  we  have  seen  pictorially  represented  on  the 
tombs.*  Other  names  were  derived  from  the  months,  as 
Januarius,  Aprilis,  December,  etc. ;  and  even  from  the 
appellations  of  the  pagan  deities,  as  Mercurius,  Apolli- 
naris,  etc.  Sometimes  the  pet  name  by  which  the  de- 
ceased was  familiarly  known  in  life  is  recorded,  as 
Agnella,  "  Little  Lamb  ;  "  Lepusculus  and  Leporilla, 
"  Little  Hare ;  "  Rosula,  "  Little  Rose  ;  "  Jocundilla, 
"  Merry  Little  Thing,"  etc.f 

*  Compare  the  funeral  totems,  the  beaver,  the  bear,  or  eagle,  c  f 
the  American  Indians.  The  Greeks  also  had  similar  names:  Lycos, 
a  wolf;  Moschos,  a  calf;  Corax,  a  raven  ;  Sauros,  a  lizard,  etc. 

f  Sometimes  a  sort  of  pun  or  play  upon  words  occurs,  as  the  ibl- 
lowing:  Hic  iacet  glyconis  dvlcis  nomine  erat  anima  qvo- 
QVE  DVLCIOR  vsQVE — "  Here  lies  Glyconis.      She   was  sweet  by 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


457 


Most  of  the  names,  as  might  be  expected,  were  of 
classic  origin,  sometimes  indicating  alliance  with  fami- 
lies of  senatorial,  consular,  or  even  imperial  rank.  We 
find  also  indications  of  the  custom  of  adopting  tlie 
names  of  the  reigning  dynasty.  The  modern  Victorias 
and  Alberts  find  their  analogues  in  the  Aurelias  and 
Constantias  of  the  Aurelian  and  Constantinian  periods. 
The  lofty  praenomen,  nomen,  and  cognomen  of  the  pa- 
gan epitaphs  rarely  appear  in  this  Christian  series.  Only 
two  or  three  examples  of  these  triple  names  occur. 
Even  two  names  become  uncommon,  and  persons  un- 
doubtedly entitled  to  these  distinctions  of  rank  were 
recorded  only  by  a  single  name.  Having  renounced 
the  pride  of  birth,  and  place,  and  power,  they  laid  aside 
their  worldly  titles  for  the  new  name  given  in  Christian 
baptism.  Sometimes  the  names  of  the  deceased  are 
not  recorded  in  the  epitaphs  at  all,  perhaps,  as  Fabretti 
suggests,  because  they  wish  them  to  be  written  only  in 
the  Book  of  Life.*  For  the  same  reason  probably,  or 
from  poverty  or  ignorance,  most  of  the  funeral  tiles  and 
slabs  bear  no  inscription  whatever. 

These  inscriptions  frequently  give  intimations  of  the 
social  rank  and  occupations  of  the  deceased.  Some- 
times the  enumeration   of  titles  indicates  exalted  posi- 


l.i 


■•  I- 


'> 


le,  r  f 
.ycos, 


name,  her  disposition  also  was  even  sweeter."  hf.ic  est  sepvlchrvm 
PVLCRVM  PVI.CR.\F.  FEMINAE — "  Here  is  the  beautiful  tomb  of  a  beau- 
tiful woman."  Much  of  the  paronomasia  is  lost  in  translation. 
Another  conceit  is  giving  the  name  of  the  deceased  acrostically  in 
the  initial  letters  of  the  lines,  an  invariable  symbol  of  degraded  taste. 
See  De  Rossi,  No.  677,  A.  D.  432. 

A  few  examples  of  Gothic  names  occur,  as  Bringa,  Uviliaric,  Erida, 
(is  it  Freda?)  Ildel^rand.  In  Gaul  these  are  more  striking,  as  Ingo- 
mir,  Hagen,  and  the  like. 

*  Quia  sohmi    in  libro    vitro    describi   avebant. — Inscrip.  Antiq., 

P-  545- 


?     :    iil 


458 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


tion  and  the  holding  of  important  offices  of  trust. 
Especially  was  this  the  case  after  the  public  establish- 
ment of  Christianity.  Many  of  the  later  inscriptions 
recount  in  pompous  and  inflated  terms,  strongly  contrast- 
ing with  the  brevity  and  simplicity  of  the  earlier  exam- 
ples, the  civil  dignities  and  distinctions  of  the  departed. 
We  have  already  seen  the  epitaph  of  an  Imperial  Proc- 
urator.*    The  following  are  examples  of  later  date. 

IVN  BASSVS  •  V-  C  •  QVI    VIXIT  ANNIS     XLII  MEN  •  II  IN  IPSA  PRAE- 

FECTVRA  VRUi  NEOFITVS  IIT  AD  DEVM — "Junius  Bassus,  a  most  dis- 
tinguished man,  who  lived  forty-two  years,  two  months.  Whilst 
holding  the  office  of  Prcefect  of  the  City,  he,  a  neophyte,  went  to  God." 

(A.  D.  359.)      ADVENIT    HOSPES  ROMANVS    PRINCEPS     IN    VUl  I'.M    CVI 

FVIT  iiic  PRIMVM  IVRISCONSVLTOR  AMicvs — "  The  Koman  Empe- 
ror (Constantine)  came  a  stranger  to  the  City,  whose  first  friend  was 
this  lawyer.  Hic  reqviescint  {sic)  IN  pace  praetextatvs  vT  • 
EXQVESTOR  iCP  ET  Fii.iA  Eivs  PRAETEXTATA  CF — "  Here  rest  in 
peace  Prsetextatus,  an  iUustrious  man,  ex-quaestor  of  the  Sacred  Pal- 
ace, and  his  daughter  Prretextata,  a  most  distinguished  woman." 
(A.  D.  486.)  IVLIVSFELIX  VAl.ENTINIANVS  •  VC  •  ET  (SP)  EX  SILEN- 
TIARIO  SACRI    PALATII    liX  COM  •  CONSISTORII  •  COM  •  DOM — "  Julius 

Felix  Valentinianus,  a  man  of  the  highest  distinction  and  considera- 
tion,-)-  ex-Silentiary  of  the  Sacred  Palace,  ex-Count  of  the  Consistoiy, 
Count  of  the  Household  Troops."  (A.  D.  519.) 

MAIORVM  LONGA  VENIENS  DE  STIRPE  SENATOR 

AVXISTI  MENTIS  NOUILITATE  GENVS 
IVDICIS  IMPERIVM  SERVANS  BONITATE  MAGISTRA 

CVM  TIBI  SVBIECTIS   TV  QVOQVE  MILES  ERAS 
VRBANOS  FASCES  GAVDENS  TIBI  ROMA  PARABAT.  (a.  D.  533.) 

A  Senator,  coming  f'om  a  long  line  of  ancestors,  thou  didst  dignify 
thy  family  by  nobility  of  mind,  preserving  the  authority  of  the  judge 
by  the  power  of  goodness.  Thou  wast  also  a  soldier  with  those  sub- 
ject to  thee,  and  Rome  rejoicing,  was  preparing  for  thee  the  fasces  of 
the  city, 

*  See  chap,  ii,  p.  419. 

f  Various  titles  of  honour  occur  in  these  epitaphs,  generally  applied 
to  the  Consuls,  occasionally  to  the  deceased,  and  indicated  by  initial 
letters  as  above,  and  as  follows :  VI.,  Vir  Illustris,  "  An  Illustrious 
Man  ; "  VD.,  Vir  Devotus,  or  Devotissimtis,  "  A  Devout,  or  Very  De- 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


459 


We  have  also  such  examples  as  scrinarivs  patri- 
ciAESEDis,  "Secrctaryof  the  Patrician  order;  "  primice- 
Rivs  MONETARiORVM,  "  Chief  of  the  bankers;"  argen- 
TARivs,  "A.  money  dealer;"  viator  ad  aerarivm, 
"Sergeant  to  the  Exchequer;  "  praefectvs  annonae, 
"  Prefect  of  the  market ; "  vestitor  imperatoris, 
"  Master  of  the  imperial  wardrobe;"  magister  scolae 
tertiae,  "  Master  of  the  Third  School ;  "  medicvs,  "  A 
physician,"  etc. 

The  great  body  of  the  Christians,  however,  were  of 
lowly  rank,  many  of  them  probably  slaves,  as  most  of 
the  arts  of  life  were  carried  on  by  that  oppressed  class. 
It  was  the  sneer  of  Celsus  that  '*  wool-workers,  leather- 
dressers,  cobblers,  the  most  illiterate  of  mankind,  were 
zealous  preachers  of  the  Gospel ;  "  but  Tertullian  re- 
torts that  every  Christian  craftsman  can  teach  truths 
loftier  than  Plato  ever  knew.*  The  inscriptions  of  the 
Catacombs  indicate  that  not  many  wise,  not  many 
mighty,  joined  that  phalanx  of  heroic  souls;  but  they 
teach,  too,  that  the  lowliest  toil  may  be  dignified  and 
ennobled  by  being  done  to  the  glory  of  God.  We  have 
seen  represented  on  the  tombs  emblems  of  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  carpenter,  mason,  currier,  wool-comber,  shoe- 
maker, vine-dresser,  and  fossor.  We  find  also  such 
records  of  trade  as  pistor  regionis  xii,  "A  baker  of 
the  Twelfth  District ;  "  ortvlanvs,  for  hortulanus^ 
"A  gardener;"  patronvs  corporis  pastillariorvm, 
"  Patron  of  the  Corporation  of  Confectioners ;  "  primi- 

vout  Man;"  VC,  Vir   Clarissimus,   FC,   Feinina  C/artssima,  "  A. 

Most  Distinguished  Man  or  Woman;"    VH.,  Vir  Honestus,    FH., 

Femina  Honesta,  *^  An    Honourable    Man  or  Woman;"  VSP.,  Vtp 

Spcctabilis,  "A  Very  Notable  Man  ;"  VP.,  Vir  Perfectissimus,  "A 

Most  Eminent  Man;"  VD.,    Vir  Doctissimus,  "A   Most  Learned 

Man." 

•    ♦  Apol,,  46. 


*  '      1 


Mifl 


4 


1  I'l 


r'i 


H 


■m.:. 


46c) 


The  Catacombs   •    Rome. 


CERivs  CENARiOkVM,  "Chief  c^  the  cooks;  "  horrka- 
Rivs,  "A  granary-keeper;"  carbonarivs,  "  A  char- 
coal seller;"  popinarivs,  "A  victualler;"  bvbvla- 
rivs  de  macello,  "A  flesher  from  the  shambles;" 
capsararivs(wV)  de  antoninia,  "a  keeper  of  clothes 
at  the  Antonine  Baths;"  qvadratarivs,  "A  stone- 
dresser;  "     POLLICLA    QVI    (h)oRDEVM     BENDIT     {sic)    DE 

^lA  NOBA  {sic^  "  Pollicla,  who  sells  barley  in  the  New 
Street;"  iohannes  vh.  olografvs  (^/V),  propine  isi- 
dori,  "  John,  a  respectable  man,  a  book-keeper  in  the 
tavern  of  Isidorus;  "  also,  lej>s  reputable  still,  vrbanvs 
VH.  tabernarivs,  "  Urban,  a  respectable  man,  a  tav- 
ern keeper."  This,  however,  was  in  the  year  A.  D. 
584,  when  purity  of  faith  ind  practice  had  greatly 
degenerated.  These  lowly  records  are  preserved  and 
studied  with  interest,  when  many  of  Rome's  priy  idest 
monuments  have  crumbled  avay.* 

*  It  may  not  be  uninterestinc;;  to  notice  some  of  the  trades  an<?  oc- 
cupations mentioned  in  pagan  '.'pttaphs.  They  are  of  a  much  wv«6<?r 
range  than  those  of  the  Christians,  indicating  that  the  latter  wer*  a 
"pe'v"-^  people,"  excluded  from  many  pursuits  on  account  of  th*ir 
imnr^'s-ri'  or  idolatrous  character.  Besides  occupations  like  those 
above  mentioned,  we  find  such  examples  as  qvadrigarivs,  "  A 
charioteer;"  cvrsor,  "The  runner;"  magister  LVDI,  "Master 
of  the  Games;"  MINISTER  POCVLI,  "  Toast  master ;"  doctor  myr- 
MILON.  "  Teacher  of  the  gladiators,"  derisor,  or  scvrra  convivi- 
ORVM,  "  Buffoon,  or  clown  of  the  revels;"  stvpidvs  gregis  vr- 
banae,  "  Clown  of  the  city  company  of  mountebanks."  We  have 
also  official  titles,  as  nabicvlarivs  cvr.  corporis  maris  hadria- 
Tici,  "  Commissioner  of  the  Hadriatic  Company;"  cvrator  alvei 
ET  riparvm  maris,  "  Curator  of  the  river  channel  and  sea 
banks;"  MENSOR  PVBLicvs,  "Public  measurer;"  viLicvs  svpra 
HORTOS,  "Steward  over  gardens  ;  "  caesari^  praesignator,  "  Im- 
perial Notary;"  invitator,  "Agent."  W*  notice,  too,  others, 
as    NVMVLARivs,    "A    banker;"    medicvs    . /mentarivs,    "Mule 

doctor;"'     MHDICVS     OCVLARIS,     "  Oculist  ; "      i  XONERATOR     CALCA- 

Rivs.  "Lime  dealer;"  LANARIVS,  "Wool-worker;"  PECTlNARivs, 
"  Comb-seller  ; "     xf.gotians    salsamentarivs    et    vinearivs 


pill' 


Sociiii  aud  Vo,'i^;iiic  Raiuiijus. 


461 


those 

.   "A 
faster 

IMYR- 

tvivi- 

VR- 

liave 

)RIA- 
LVEI 

sea 

iVPRA 

Im- 

[thers. 
Mule 

LCA- 
,RIVS, 
RIVS 


Very  often  :,ome  phrase  ex|,  .essiT  e  of  the  Christian 
character  or  distinguished  vtr-  es  ot  the  deceased  is 
recorded  in  loving  rememl:  ace  \ty  his  sorrowing 
friends.  These  testimonies  are  calculnted  to  inspire  a 
very  high  opinion  of  the  purity.,  blamelessness,  and  no- 
bility of  life  of  the  primitive  believers ;  all  the  more 
striking  from  its  contrast  with  the  abominable  corrup- 
tions of  the  pagan  society  by  which  they  were  sur- 
rounded. With  many  points  of  external  resemblance  to 
heathen  inscriptions  there  is  in  these  Christian  epitaphs 
a  world-wide  difference  of  informing  spirit.  Instead  of 
the  pomp  and  pride  of  pagan  panegyric,  we  have  the 
celebration  of  the  modest  virtues,  of  lowliness,  gentle- 
ness, and  truth.  The  Christian  ideal  of  excellence,  as 
indicated  by  the  nature  of  the  praises  bestowed  on  ht 
departed,  is  shown  to  be  utterly  foreign  to  that  of  heathen 
sentiment.     The  following  are  characteristic  examples : 

FELIX  SANCTAE  FmEI  \  OCFTVS  {sic)  TIT  IN  PACK 

CVIVS  TANTVS  AMOR  ET  •:;      iTAS    R'     ENETVR  AB   AMICIS  IN  AEVO 

QVI  CVM  ESSEX  FVIT  S0LA:>     S  MISF..UCORS  OMNIBVS  NOTVS. 

Felix  of  sacred  liononr,         n  ciiled  away  went  in  peace,  ,/hose 
love  and  affection  are  so  wai  .liy  cherished  by  his  friends  ;  who,  when 


"Salt    and    wine    merchiint ; ''     ^  v'KtcVLARivs,    "Keeper    of    the 
Couch;"  I  RAMMATicvs  LEC  OROVi:,  "Grammarian  and  reader;" 
COMPARATOR  MERCis  sVTv^RlAE,      Shoemaker's  furnisher;"  FVNA- 
Rivs,  "Rope  mak^^r;  "  negotiaior  lentic  •  et  castreniar     'A 
Camp  Grocer  and  Sutler  ;  "  reoemptor  ab   aere,   "Contractor  in 
Brass;"  faher   fkrrakivs,   "Iron  Worker;"    negotiator   lvg- 
DVNENSIS  artis,  "  A  Dealer  in  Lyons  wares,"  not  silks,  as  the  phrase 
would  now  mean,  but  pottery;   exactor  tribvtor/m,  "Tax  gath- 
erer;"   and    the  fanaticvs    in  the  temple  of  Isis,  i.  e.,  one  hired 
to  stimulate  the  zeal  of  the  votaries   by  wild  and  frantic  gestures, 
attributed  to  the  inspiration  of  the  deity.     We  find  also  epitaphs 
df  actors,  dancers,  pantomimists,  of  one  of  whom,  1  young  girJ,  it  is 
said,  cviv"5   in  octava    lascivia   svrgere  messe  coeffkat — a 
horrible  circumstance  to  mention  on  her  tomb. 


m 


!4i 


|U<! 


i\ 


.11- 

ffi;  'i 


j^    i! 


4C2 


Tlie  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


v'.^.h^-  ";■' 


**sig<jV; 


V    '*  |1 


he  was  in  life  was  known  to  all  for  sympathy  with  the  afflicted  and 
compassion  toward  the  distressed. 

IN  SIMPLICITATE  VIXIT  AMICVS  PAVPERVM  INNOCEN- 
TiVM  MISERICORS  SPECTAHILIS  ET   PENITENS — "  He  Hved 

in  simplicity,  a  friend  of  the  poor,  compassionate  to  the 
innocent,  a  man  of  consideration  and    penitent."     in- 

FANTIAE  AETAS  VIRGINITATIS  INTEGRITAS   MORVM  GRA- 
VITAS  FIDEI  ET  REVERENTIAE  DISCIPLINA — "  Of  yOUthful 

age,  of  spotless  maidenhood,  of   grave    manners,   well 
disciplined  in  faith  and  reverence." 

More  fre(iuent  than  any  other  expression  was  the 
phrase,  common  also  to  pagan  epitaphs,  bene  merenti, 
— "To  the  well-deserving,"  generally  indicated  by  the 
letters  b.  m.  But  many  others  of  a  more  distinctively 
Christian  character  occur,  as,  servvs  dei,  famvlvs  dei, 
"  Servant  of  God ;  "  AOTAOC  niCTOC  eEOT,  "  Faithful 
Serva;it  of  (iod;"  AHOC  •  UEOCEBEC,  "A  holy  wor- 
sliipper  of  God;"  TAYKEPAN  AHAN.  "An  amiable  and 
holy  person;"  sanctissimvs,  "A  most  holy  person; " 
anima  dvlcis  et  innocens,  "  Sweet  and  innocent 
soul;"  AMICVS  OMNivM,  "Friend  of  all  men;"  nACI- 
♦iaoc  KAI  OTAENI  EXePOC,  "  Friend  of  all  and  enemy 
of  none ;  "  semper  sine  cvlpa,  "  Ever  without  fault ;  " 
amator  pavpervm,  "A  lover  of  the  poor;"  homo 
30NVS,  "A  good  man;  "  stvdiosvs,  "  Zealous;  "  spir- 
ITO  sancto,  "  To  a  holy  soul ;  "  innocentissimvs, 
"  A  most  innocent  person  ;  "  and  the  like.  Others  are 
of  a  more  general  character,  as  honestes  recorda- 
tiones  (sic)  viR,  "  A  man  worthy  to  be  remembered 
with  honour ; "  AEIMNHCTOC,  "  Ever  to  be  remem- 
bered ;  "  eEO<l>iAECTATOC,  "  The  most  devout  or  God- 
loving;"  mire  (sic)  sapientiae,  "Of  wonderful 
wisdom;"  lavdabilis  femina,  "A  praiseworthy 
woman ;  "  conivx  dignissima,  "  A  most  worthy  wife  ;  " 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


463 


CASTISSIMAE   ADQVE  PVDICISSIMAE  FEMINAE,  "To  a  most 

chaste  and  modest  woman;"  mirae  pvlchritvdinis 
ATQVE  iDONEiTATis,  "  Of  wonderful  beauty  and  abil- 
ity ;  "   MIRAE    INTEGRITATIS    ET    FIDEI    ATQVE   CONSTAN- 

TiAE,    "  Of  wonderful    integrity,    faith,    and    steadfast- 
ness; "    SAPfENS  Pivs  ATQVE  BENIC-Nvs,  "Wise,  pious, 
and  kind;"    homo  fidei   et   integritatis   upinionis 
BONAE  mentis  integrae  amicvs  amicor/m,  "A  man 
of  sound  faith   and  integrity,   of  good  judgment,  of  a 
sound    mind,    a    friend    of    his    friends ;  "    svabis   {sie) 
semperqve    pvdica   vera    loqvens,   "Agreeable   and 
ever  modest,  speaking  the  truth  ;  "  bonitatis  eximiae 
et    mirae    verecvndiae    et    vltra    aetatem    sapi- 
ENTIAE,     "  Of    remarkable     goodness    and    wonderful 
modesty,  and  wise  beyond  her  years;"  anima  dvlcis, 
INNOCVA  {sic)  sapiens  ET   pvLCHRA,  "A  sweet  spirit, 
guileless,  wise,  beautiful;  "  amatrix  pavperorvm  {sic) 
ET  operaria,  "  A  lover  of  the  poor,  and  attentive  to  her 
work;"  fidelis  in  XPO  eivs  mandata  servans  mar- 
tyrvm  obseqviis  devota,  "  Faithful   in   Christ,  keep- 
ing his   commands,  devoted   in   attention  to  the  mar- 
tyrs; "   pvrvs  amicitiae  cvltor   servator    honesti 
eloqvio   miseros   pietate  ivvans,   "a  guileless  pre- 
server of  friendship  and  observer  of  honour,  helping 
the  wretched  by  words  and  by  affectionate  care ;  "  te 
carvm  svvoles  te  fixvm  sensit  amicvs  te  levitas 
TORvvM  DVLCEM  COGNOVIT  HONESTVS,  "  Thec  thy  son 
felt   beloved,  thy   friend  attached,  thee   the   frivolous 
found   stern,   but    the    upright    knew    to    be   gentle ; " 
ETTEPHE    H  TfiN   MOTCQN   CYNTPO^OC  BIQCACA  APAOC 
0Cli2C  KAI  AMEMnTQC,  "  Euterpe,  a  companion  ot   the 
Muses,    having    lived  simply,  piously,   and  irreproach- 
ably"    The   last   is   from   Sicily,  the   others  are    from 
Rome.     Otker  examples  will  be  given  in  treating  the 


'i, 


m 


■  % 


4^)4 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


X  I 


U  \ 


f'-v  « 


domestic  and  ecclesiastical  relations  of  the  primitive 
Christians. 

In  these  memorials  of  the  departed  we  have  a  strik- 
ing portraiture  of  the  Christian  graces  and  domestic 
virtues  of  the  early  believers.  The  existence  of  such  a 
pure  and  blameless  community  in  a  base  and  sensual 
age  is  one  of  the  noblest  chapters  in  the  history  of  the 
race.  It  was  also  an  eloquent  protest,  a  living  testi- 
mony against  the  abominations  of  pagan  society  and 
the  manifold  corruptions  which  were  in  the  world 
through  lust.  From  these  the  Christian  community 
recoiled  with  utter  abhorrence,  and,  in  the  early  centu- 
ries, lived  unspotted  amid  surrounding  pollution.* 

Although  some  of  the  pagan  epitaphs  betray  a  light 
and  sportive  epicurean  vein  even  in  the  solemn  presence 
of  death,  yet  others  indicate  an  appreciation  of  the  do- 
mestic and  civic  virtues,  as  in  the  following  example : 

MIRAE  BONITATIS  ADQVE  INIMITABILIS  SANCTITATIS  TO- 
TIVSCASTITATIS  RARI  EXEMPLI  FEMINA  CASTE  RONE  BITE 
ET  PIETOSE  (stc)  IN  OMNIBVS  .  .  .  VIXIT  SINE  LESIONE 
ANIMI   MEI    MECVM    ANNOS    XV.    FILIOS    AVTEM    PROCREA- 

viT  vii — "  Of  wonderful  goodness  and  inimitable  piety, 
of  entire  modesty,  a  woman  of  rare  example,  of  a 
chaste,  virtuous,  and  pious  life  in  ail  things.  She  lived 
with  me  without  any  annoyance  of  my  mind  fifteen 
years,  and  bore  me  seven  children." 

Often  they  are  expressed  with  admirable  brevity,  as, 

TANTIS  VIRTVTIBVS  NVLLVM   PAR  ELOGIVM,  "  Of  SO  great 

virtue  there  is  no  equal  praise ;  "  moribvs  pariter  et 

*  TertuUian  bases  his  apolog  r  for  the  Christians  on  the  blameless- 
ness  of  their  character,  refutes  the  accusations  against  them,  and 
challenges  proof.  The  unworthy  members  of  the  community,  he 
says,  are  only  as  moles  or  freckles  on  the  body,  or  as  a  fleecy  cloud 
on  a  sunny  sky,  affecting  not  its  general  character. — Ad  A'ationes,^. 


Si7ciai  and  Domestic  Relations. 


465 


:rea- 
^iety, 
of  a 
lived 
ifteen 

ty,  as, 
great 

ER  ET 


DISCIPLINA     CAETERIS     FEMINIS     EXEMPLVM,      "  She     WaS 

equally  in  manners  and  education  an  example  to  other 
women;"  de  cvivs  pvdore  nemo  dicere  potvit, 
"  Against  whose  modesty  no  one  could  say  aught;"* 
and  this  noble  testimony  to  a  magistrate,  qvid   esset 

MALEDICERE  NESCHT    NON    TANQVAM,  "  What    it    WaS    tO 

speak  evil  he  did  not  even  know." 

But  it  is  especially  in  the  domestic  relations  that  the 
tender  and  pure  affections  of  the  Christians  are  most 
beautifully  exhibited.  His  heart  must  be  callous  indeed, 
who  can  read  without  emotion  these  humble  records  of 
love  and  sorrow,  which  have  survived  so  many  of  the 
proudest  monuments  of  antiquity.  In  the  hour  of  tear- 
ful parting  from  the  dearly  loved,  the  richest  affections 
of  the  soul  are  breathed  forth,  as  the  flower  when 
crushed  e^.hales  its  sweetest  fragrance.  These  rude  in- 
scriptions speak  to  our  hearts  with  a  power  and  pathos 
all  their  own.  Their  mute  eloquence  sweeps  down  the 
centuries,  and  touches  chords  in  every  soul  that  thrill 
with  keenest  sympathy.  The  far  severed  ages  are 
linked  together  by  the  tale  of  death  and  sorrow — old  as 
humanity  yet  ever  new.  The  bleaching  skeletons  in 
their  stony  beds  seem  clothed  again  with  human  flesh 
and  warm  with  living  love.  The  beauty  and  tenderness 
of  Christian  family  life  is  vividly  exhibited — the  hallow- 
ing influence  of  religion  making  earthly  love  the  type 
of  love  eternal  in  the  skies.  The  tie  that  knits  fond 
hearts  together  becomes  the  stronger  as  death  smites  at 
it  in  vain.  The  language  of  affection  becomes  mora 
fervent  as  the  barrier  of  the  grave  is  interposed. 

*  Compare,  in  Propertius'  elegy  on  Cornelia,  the  line 

Viximus  insignes  inter  titramque  facem. 

'•  I  lived  spotless  from  the  kindling  of  my  marriage  torch  to  that 
which  lit  my  funeral  pyre." 

80 


.  \ 


466 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


Especially  is  this  \.\\2  case  when  sorrowing  parents 
mingle  their  tears  at  the  tiny  loculus  of  their  babe,  con- 
signed to  earth's  cold  keeping  from  their  loving  arms 
— their  bud  of  promise  blighted,  and  hope's  blossom 
withered  to  bloom  only  in  \.\vt  skies.  The  warmest 
expressions  of  endearment  are  lavished  on  the  tombs 
of  little  children.  Thus  we  have  such  tender  epithets 
as  DVLCIOR  MELLE,  "  Swcetcr  than  honey  ;  "  TATKYTE- 
POC  *CTOC  KAl  Zi2HC,  "  Sweetei  than  light  and  life;  " 
AGNELLVS  DEI,  "  God's  little  lamb  ;  "  palvmbvlvs  sine 
FELLE,  "Little  dove  without  gall;"  parvvlvs  inno- 
CENS,  "Little  innocent;  "  meae  deliciae,  "My  delight;  " 
DVLCissiMvs   CARissiMvs,    "  Most   swect,    most  dear;" 

EIPHNH  201  *OPTOYNATH  eYFATPI  rATKTTATH,  "  Peace 

to  thee,  O  P'ortunata,  our  very  sweet  child;  "  innocen- 
TissiMO  PAVLO  Qvi  •  vix.  •  M  .;  X  •  D  •  xiiii,  "  To  the  most 
innocent  Paul,  who  lived  ten  months,  fourteen  days;  " 

ANIMA  DVLCIS  INNOCVA  SAPIENS  ET  PVLCHRA,  "  A  SWCCt 

spirit,  guileless,  wise,  and  beautiful,"  (a  child  aged  three 
years) ;  mirae  innocentiae  ac  sapientiae  pvero, 
"  A  boy  of  wonderful  innocence  nnd  intelligence,"  (aged 
four  years.)  Sometimes  a  retcrence  is  made  to  the 
brief  sojourn  of  the  little  pilgrim  to  life's  shores,  as 
parvm  stetit  apvd  nob,  "  He  stayed  but  a  short  time 
with  us," 

The  following  is  from  Sicily :  EN0AAE  KITE  {sk)  EN 
EIPHNH  MAPI  A  EZHCEN  ETH  MIKPON  HPOC  B  (KAI)  ETE- 
AEIQeH,  "  Here  lies  Mary  in  peace  :  she  lived  a  little 
more  than  two  years  (and)  finished  her  course."  Of  an- 
other it  is  said,  that  she  diea  inter  manvs  parentvm, 
"  In  the  arms  of  her  parents."  In  an  epitaph  at  Naples 
is  the  exquisite  utterance  of  a  sorrowing  heart :  in  solis 
TV  MiHi  tvrba  locis,  "  In  lonely  places  thou  art  crowds 
to  me."     Generally,  however,  the  grief  of  the  parents  is 


,11 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


467 


speechless,  and  we  read  merely,  parentes  fecervni- 
FiMAE,  "  The  i)arents  made  (this  tomb)  for  their  child," 
or  perhaps,  mater  incomparahili  filiae  pecit,  **  The 
mother  made  this  for  her  incomparable  daughter." 

Sometimes  the  praise  of  the  deceased  is  more  elabo- 
rate, as  in  the  following,  which  is  probably  of  late  date; 
dalmatio  filio  dvlcissimo  to'l  ivs  ingeniositatis  ac 
sapientiae   pvero  qvem    plenis  septem   annis   per 

FRVI  PATRI  INFELICI  NON  LICVIT  QVI  STVDENS  LITTERAS 
GRAECAS   NON  •  MONSTRATAS   i  Ibl    LATINAS — "  To    Dal- 

matius,  a  very  sweet  son,  of  tiie  rtmost  genius  and  wis- 
dom, whose  unhappy  father  was  not  permitted  to  enjoy 
him  for  seven  full  years,  who,  while  studying  the  Greek 
language,  acquired  Latin  without  being  taught."* 

Sometimes  a  natural  expression  of  sorrow  occurs,  as 
PARENTES  DOLENTES,  "  The  parents  grieving  ;  "  pater 
iNFELix,  "The  anhappy  father;"  contra  votvm, 
"  Regretfully;  "  parentes  miseri  fvnebris  acervitate 
{sic)  percvssi  titvlvm  erigi  ivsservnt,  "  The  wretched 
parents,  smitten  by  the  bitterness  of  her  death,  com- 
manded this  tablet  to  be  set  up,"  (a.  d.  464 ;)  erepta 
EX  ocvLis  genitoris,  "  Snatched  from  the  eyes  of  her 
parent ;  "  Qvis  non  dolvit  aetati  tvae  piasqve  la- 
crimas  fvdit  in  te  spes  fvtvra  expectabatvrper 
te  per  te  gloria  perennis  celerine  fili,  fidelis 

QVIESCIS  in  pace  QVI  VIXIT    ANN.  I.  M.  VIII — "  Who    did 

not  grieve  for  thy  (immature)  age  and  pour  affection- 
ate tears  }  In  thee  was  future  hope.  Through  thee, 
through  thee,  O  son  Celerinus,  perennial  glory  was  ex- 
pected. Faithful  one,  thou  restest  in  peace,  who  lived 
one  year  eight  months,"  (A.  D.  381). 

In  the  following,  of  later  date,   the   expressions   of 
grief  are  more  elaborate  and  artificial,  and  indicate  the 
*  The  text  and  translation  are  as  given  by  Burton. 


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(7l6)«7a-4S03 


468 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


influence  of  pagan  thought  and  diction,  especially  in 
the  last  line : 

<^VOD  DVLCES  NATI  QVOD  CARA  PICNORA  PRAESTANT 

AHSTVLIT  ATRA  DIKS  ET  FVNERE  MERSIT  ACERVO 

IIAEC  MATER  ET  GEMTOR  CONSCRIBVNT  CARMINA  BVSTO 

QVO  LEGENTI  SIMVL  REDEAT  SVU  CORDE  FIOVRA 

ET  SICCATA  SAEPE  MADESCANT  LVMI.NA  FLETV 

SIC  MEDICATVR  AMOR  NEC  CVRANT  CARMINA  MANES. 

"What  sweet  children,  what  dear  pledges  promise,  a  dire  day 
has  borne  away,  and  plunged  in  hitter  death.  The  father  and  mother, 
together,  write  these  verses  on  the  tomb,  in  order  that  to  any  one 
reading,  the  image  may  at  once  return  to  the  soul,  and  the  eyes,  long 
dry,  may  moisten  with  tears.  Thus  love  administers  relief,  nor  do 
the  spirits  care  for  songs." 

No  less  fervent  expressions  of  affection  are  employed 
toward  their  adult  offspring  by  surviving  parents.  In- 
deed they  are,  if  possible,  still  more  intense,  as  if  wrung 
froiTi  the  bleeding  heart  by  grief  for  the  fallen  column 
of  the  house — the  broken  staff  of  their  declining  years. 
In  the  following,  from  the  I.apidarian  gallery,  the  epi- 
thets of  endearment  are  lavishly  heaped  upon  the  be- 
loved  object :  adsertori   filio   karo    dvlci  innoco 

ET  INCOMPARABILI  QVI  VIXIT  ANNIS  XVII  •  M  •  VII  •  DI£BVS 

viii  •  PATER    ET    MATER    fecer(vnt) — "  To   Adsertop? 
our  dear,  sweet,  guileless,  and  incomparable  son,  who 
lived  seventeen  years,  seven  months,  eight  days.     His 
father  and  mother  made  this." 
Of  similar  character  are  the  following :  pavla  cla- 

RISSIMA     FAEMINA     DVLCIS    BENIGNA   GRATIOSA     FILIA — 

"  Paula,  an  illustrious  woman,  a  sweet,  kind,  and  gra- 
cious daughter;"  NIMIVM  CITO  DECIDISTI  CONSTANTIA 
MIRVM     PVLCHRITVDINIS     ATQVE        IDONEITATIS — "  ToO 

soon  hast  thou  fallen,  Constantia,  wonderful  (example) 
of  beauty  and  ability." 

Similar  evidences  of  parental  affection  and  grief  oc- 
cur in  i^agan  inscriptions,  though  often  overshadowed 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


469 


by  a  deep  and  dark  despair.  Thus  we  read  such  tender 
epithets  of  little  children  as  filiae  dvlcissimae  iam 
GARRVLAE  BiMVLAE  NONDVM — "  To  a  Very  sweet  daugh- 
ter now  prattling,  not  yet  two  little  years  of  age ;  " 
OBSEQVENTissiMAE  FILIAE — "  To  a  most  obedient  daugh- 
ter;  "  MATER  MOERENS  FILIO  EX  QVO  NIHIL  VNQVAM  SO- 
LVIT NISI  CVM  IS  NON  FviT — "  The  grieving  mother  to  her 
son,  from  whom  she  never  received  any  pain  but  when  he 
was  not," — that  is,  when  he  died;  parvaebvsta  pvellae 

THREPTVS  PATER  FECIT  QVIS  NON  VVLTVM  RIGAT  LACRI- 
MIS    MAERORE  COACTVS   QVIS    NON    TRISTITIAM    PECTORE 

CONCIPIT — "  Her  foster-father  made  this  tomb  of  a  little 
girl.  Who  does  not  moisten  his  face  with  tears,  compelled 
by  grief?     Who  dees  not  cherish  sorrow  in  his  bosom  ?  * 

ADOLESCENTVLAE  DVLCISSIMAE  PATER    PIISSIMVS    ET   IN- 

FELicissiMVS  FECIT — "  To  a  most  sweet  young  maiden, 
her  most  affectionate  and  unhappy  father  gave  this 
tomb ;  "  FLEViT  et  assidvo  maestvs  vterqve  parens 
— "  Both  the  sorrowful  parents  wept  incessantly." 

We  have  also  such  examples  as,  mater  ad  lvctvm  et 
gemitvm  rehcta  evm  lacrimis  et  opobalsamo  vdvm 
HOC  SEPVLCHRO  CONDIDIT — "  His  mother,  left  to  sorrow 
and  groaning,  buried  him,  moist  with  tears  and  balsam, 
in   this  tomb;"  qvae  ob  desiderivm  fili  svi  piissimi 

VIVERE  ABOMINAVIT  ET    POST  DIES  XV   FATI  EIVS    ANIMO 

despondit — "  Who,  on  account  of  her  yearning  for  her 
most  affectionate  son,  hated  life,  and,  fifteen  days  after 
his  death,  also  died."  ^ 

Sometimes  in  their  passionate  grief  the  heathen  pa- 
rents reproach  themselves  for  surviving  their  children, 
as  in  the  following.  » 


oc- 
)wed 


CRVDELIS  IMPIA  MATKRCARIS  SVIS  DVLCISSIMIS  .  .  .  INPELICISSIM.V 
MATER  QVI  (jiV)  VI DIT  FVNVS  SVVM  TRVDELISSIMVM  QVAE  SI  I)EV.M 
PROPITIVM  HABVISSET  HOC  DEBVERA  (siC)  EOS  PATI. 


470 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


The  cruel,  impious  mother,  to  her  dear,  most  sweet  children.     The 
most  unhapi)y  mother,  who  saw  (in  theirs)  her  own  most  cruel  death 
who,  if  she  had  had  a  propitious  deity,  ought  to  have  suffered  this  for 
them — (that  ii,  have  died  in  their  stead.) 

HIC  lACET  EXTINCTVS  CRVDELI  FVNERE  NATV5 
VLTIMA  VIVENDI  QVI  MIHI  CAVSA  FVIT, 

Mere  lies,  destroyed  by  cruel  fate,  a  son,  who  was  my  only  reason 
for  living. 

Often  the  expressions  in  Christian  epitaphs  of  filial 
affection  to  deceased  parents  are  exceedingly  tender 
and  beautiful,  as  for  example :  patri  dvlcissimo  bene- 
MERENTi  IN  PACE — **  To  OUT  swectest  father,  well-deserv- 
ing, in  peace,"  (A.  D.  356) ;  tigriti  benemerenti.  .  .  . 
FiLivs  Ffeci  matri — '*  To  the  well-deserving  Tigris.  .  .  . 
I,  her  son,  made  this  for  my  mother,"  (A.  D.  393  •)  hoc 

TVMVLVM    PATRIS     FILIVS     FIERI     VOLVIT    CAVSA    AMORIS 

PATERNi  RECORDATiONis — "This  tomb  of  his  father 
the  son  wished  to  be  made  on  account  of  his  remem- 
brance of   paternal    affection ; "    te    parens   soboles 

CONIVNXQVE    FIDELIS  TE   MIXTIS    LACRIMIS    LVGET    AMA- 

TA  DOMVS — "  Thee  thy  parent,  thy  offspring,  thy  faithful 
consort,  thee  a  loved  home,  with  mingled  tears,  lament," 
(A.  D.  533.) 

HEV  MEMORANDE  PATER   LONG!  M^HI  CAVSA  DOLORIS 
OPTASTI  IN  MANi::VS  FILIORVM  SAEPE  TVORVM 
SVMERE  ET  AMPLEXV  DVLCI  TENVARE  NEPOTVM. 
ADFVIT  HIS  VOTIS  EXCELS!  GRATIA  CHRISTI 
FELIX  VITA  FVIT  FELIX  ET  TRANSITVS  IPSE.   (A.  D.  534.) 

Alas,  O  father,  ever  to  be  remembered,  cause  of  long  grief  to  me, 
thou  didst  often  desire  to  die  in  the  arms  of  thy  children,  to  gently 
pass  away  in  the  eweet  embrace  of  thy  offspring.  These  wishes  the 
grace  of  the  exalted  Christ  fulfilled.  Happy  was  thy  life,  and  happy 
also  thy  passing  away. 

We  find  also  the  epitaphs  of  foster-parents  and 
adopted  children,  showing  the  exercise,  under  the  influ- 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


471 


ence  of  Christian  sentiment,  of  the  beautiful  charity  of 
rescuing  foundlings  and  orphans*  from  poverty,  infamy, 
or  death.  The  following  example  is  of  date  A.  D. 
392: 

PERPETVAM  SEDEM  NVTRITOR  POSSIDES  IPSE 
HIC  MERITVS  FINEM  MAGNIS  DEFVNCTE  PERICLIS 
HIC  REQVIEM  FELIX  SVMIS  COGENTIBVS  ANNIS 
HIC  POSITVS  PAPASANTIMIO  QVI  VIXIT  ANNIS  LXX. 

"  You  yourself  who  reared  (us)  now  occupy  a  lasting  resting-place. 
Here  you  have  reached  the  end  that  you  deserved,  of  a  course  fraught 
with  great  perils.  Here,  in  happiness,  you  take  the  repose  that  age 
compels.  Here  is  laid  footer-father  Antimio,  who  lived  seventy 
years."  f 

The  conjugal  affections  especially  have  their  beauti- 
ful and  tender  commemoration.  The  mutual  love  of 
husband  and  wife  hnds  in  these  inscriptions  affecting 
record,  which,  attests  the  happiness  of  the  marriage  re- 
lation among  the  primitive  Christians.  Frequently  the 
bereaved  husband  recounts  with  grateful  recollection 
the  fact  that  his  wedded  life  was  one  of  perfect  har- 


and 

influ- 


*  Dr.  Northcote  indeed  asserts  that  "  there  are  actually  more  in- 
stances of  alumni  among  the  sepulchral  inscriptions  of  the  Christians 
than  among  the  infinitely  more  numerous  sepulchral  inscriptions  of 
the  pagans."  (Page  136.)  The  accompanying  Greek  examples  are 
characteristic  of  the  class :  HPOKAH  ePEOTH,  "  To  Procla,  an 
adopted  daughter;"  OETPOC  ePEOTOC  rAYKTTATOC  EN  GEO, 
"  Peter,  a  most  sweet  adopted  son,  in  God." 

The  titles  mamma  and  tata,  someiimes  in  their  diminutive  forms 
mamula  and  tatula,  equivalent  to  our  mamma  and  papa,  occur  in 
Christian  and  pagan  epitaphs. 

\  The  expression  papasantimio  was  erroneously  translated  "most 
holy  Pope  "  by  Paoll  and  Fea,  but  their  mistake  was  long  since  pointed 
out  Maitland,  and  Bishop  Kip  who  followed  him,  fell  into  the  same 
error.  De  Rossi  severely  criticises  the  former  as  "  most  ignorant  of 
the  whole  controversy,  known  even  to  blear-eyed  and  barbers." — Totius 
controversiae,  vel  lippis  ac  tonsoribus  aotse,  ignarissimus. — Inscrip. 
Antiq.,  p.  177.     The  translation  above  given  is  that  of  Dr.  McCaul. 


472 


The  Catacombs  oj  Rome. 


mony,  unmarred  by  a  single    jar  or  discord — semfkr 

CONCORDES  SINE  VLLA  QVERELA. 

The  posthumous  praise  of  these  Christian  matrons 
recalls  the  inspired  portraiture  of  the  virtuous  woman 
of  Scripture.  The  intensity  of  conjugal  grief  is  shown 
by  the  expressions,  male  fractvs  conivx — "  The  sore 
broken  husband; "  and  gemii  v  tristi  lacrimis  dgflet 
— "  He  bewails  in  tears  with  bitter  lamentation."  Often 
occurs  the  phrase  incomparabilis  conivx — "  Incom- 
parable wife,"  frequently  with  the  addition,  optimae 
MEMORIAE — "Of  most  excellent  meniory."  Sometimes 
we  find  the  tender  expression,  with  such  depth  of  mean- 
ing in  its  simple  words,  Qvi  amavit  me — "  Who  loved 
me;  "  also  the  phrase,  carvssvis — "Dear  to  his  friends;" 
or,  PERDVLCissiMO  coNiVGi  SVG — inadequately  ren- 
dered, "To  her  most  dearest  husband."  The  utterance 
of  a  grief  into  the  secret  of  which  none*  can  enter  but 
those  who  have  known  its  bitterness,  is  often  extremely 
pathetic. 

The  spirit  of  these  inscriptions  will  be  best  seen  in 
the  concrete.  The  following  are  characteristic  exam- 
ples:   DEO    FIDELIS  DVLCIS    MARITO    NVTRIX    FAMILIAE 

HVMiLis  cvnctis  amatrix  pavpervm — "  Faithful  to 
God,  endeared  to  her  husband,  the  nurse  of  her  fam- 
ily, humble  to  all,  a  lover  of  the  poor;"  bixit  mecvm 

ANNIS   XXII  •  mens  •  IX  •  dies  V  IN  QVIBVS   SEMPER    MIHI 

bene  fvit  cvm  illa — "  She  lived  with  me  for  twenty-two 
years,  nine  months,  five  days,  during  which  time  it  ever 
went  well  with  me  in  her  society; "  conivge  venerande 
BONE  innocva  florentia  digna  pia  amabilis  pvdica 
(wV) —  "  To  my  wife  Florentia,  deserving  of  honour, 
good,  guileless,  worthy,  pious,  amiable,  modest." 

HIC  REQVIESCIT  IN  PACE  TERTVRA  CF  DVLCIS  PETRONII  CONIVX 
DEO  SERVIENS  VNICAE  FIDEI  AMICA  PACIS  CASTIS  MORIBVS  UKNATA 


x^:-f^ 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


473 


rOMMVNIS  FIDEI.IUVS   AMICtS   FAMILIAR   GRATA   NVTRIX   NATORVM 
FT  NVMQVAM  AMARA  MAR, TO. 

•*  Here  reposes  in  peace  Tertura,  an  illustrious  woman,  the  sweet 
wife  of  Petronius,  serving  God,  of  matchless  faith,  a  frienil  of  peace, 
adorned  with  modest  manners,  affable  toward  the  faithful  friends  of 
her  family,  a  loving  nurse  of  her  children,  and  never  bitter  to  her 
husband." 

HlC  Mini  SEMPF.R  DOLOR  ERIT  IN  AEVO 

ET  TVVM  BENF.RAHI!  EM  VVLTVM  FVAT  VIDERE  SOPORE 

CONIVNX  ALBANAQVE  MIHI  SEMPER  CASTA  HVDICA 

RELICTVM  ME  TVO  GREMIO  QVEROR 

QVOD  MIHI  SANCTVM  TE  DEDERAT  DIVINITVS  AVCTOR. 

"  This  grief  will  always  weigh  upon  me.  May  it  be  granted  me  to 
behold  in  sleep  your  revered  countenance.  My  wife  Albana,  always 
chaste  and  modest.  I  grieve  over  the  loss  of  your  support,  whom  our 
divine  author  had  given  to  me  as  a  sacred  (boon.)" 

In  the  follo'ving  a  disconsolate  husband  mourns  the 
wife  of  his  youth  with  the  pleasing  illusion  that  such  love 
as  theirs  the  world  had  never  known  before  :  domni- 

NAE  INNOCENTISSIMAE  ET  DVLCISSIMAE  CONIVGI  QVAE 
VIXIT  ANN  •  XVI  •  M  •  IIII  •  ET  FVIT  MARITATA  •  ANN  DVOBVS 
•  M>IIII*D>  Villi  CVM  QVA  NON  LICVIT  FVISSE  PROPTER 
CAVSAS  PEREGRINATIONIS  NISI  •  MENSIB  •  VI  •  QVO  •  TEM- 
PORE •  VT  EGO  SENSI  ET  EXHIBVI  AMOREM   MEVM    MVLLIS 

VALii  (sic)  SIC  DELixERVNT — "  To  Domnina,  my  most 
guileless  and  sweet  wife,  who  lived  sixteen  years  and 
four  months,  and  was  married  two  years,  four  months, 
and  nine  days ;  with  whom  I  was  not  able  to  live  on 
account  of  my  travelling  more  than  six  months  :  during 
this  period  as  I  felt  and  showed  my  affection  no  others 
ever  loved." 

♦  This  example  and  translation  are  from  Maitland.  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  Domnina  must  have  been  married  before  her  fourteenth 
birthday.     Several  notices  of  early  marriages  occur,  as  e.  g. 

VISCILIVS  NICENI  •  COSTAE  •  SVAE  QVAE  FVIT* 
ANNOR  •  P  •  M  •  XXXI  •  EX  QVIBVS  DVRABIT  •  MECVM  ANNOS  XV — 

*' Viscilius  to  Nice,  his  rib,  who  was  of  thirty-one  years  (of  age)  more 


474 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


i 


Similar  expressions  of  affection  are  applied  by  bereaved 
wives  to  their  deceased  husbands.  In  the  following  a 
widowed  heart  dwells  with  fond  complacency  on  the 
thought  that  no  rankling  recollection  of  estranged  regard 
embitters  her  remembrance  of   the   lost :    agrippina 

FECIT  •  DVLCISSIMO    SVO    MARITO    CVM    QVEM   VIXIT    SINE 

LEsiONE  ANiMi  •  ANNOS  III  ET  M  •  X. — "  Agrippina  made 
this  to  her  very  sweet  husband,  with  whom  she  lived, 
without  jarring,  three  years  and  ten  months."  Of  sim- 
ilar import  is  this  also :  digno  meritoqve  ivgali  meo 

TETTIO  FILICISSIMO  DIACONO  •  MARCIA  DECENTIA  DVLCIS- 
SIMO  MIHI    DIEM     DEPOSITIONIS    LAPIDEMQVE    DESCRIPSI  • 

MERiTO  VIXIT  ANNVS  NON  MiNvs  Lxx — "  To  my  husband, 
Tettius  Felicissimus,  worthy  and  deserving,  a  deacon. 
I,  Marcia  Decentia,  inscribed  this  stone  to  him  (who 
was)  most  sweet  to  me,  on  the  day  of  his  buria'  He 
lived  in  honour  not  less  than  seventy  years." 


i 


'  I 


or  less,  of  which  she  passed  with  me  fifteen  years."  The  use  of  casta 
loxusor  is  doubtless  an  allusion  to  Genesis  ii,  21.  We  read  also  of 
Felicissima,  qvae  vixiT  annvs  i.x  •  qvae  fecit  cvm  viro  svo  an- 
NVS  XLV — "Who  lived  sixty  years,  who  passed  with  her  husband 
forty-five  years;"  and  of  Januaria,  L«  f-qvae  vixiT  PL-M-  ANN  • 
xxviii  •  c  •  MARITY  •  FEC  ANN  XV  •  M  •  XI  •  D  •  X — "  A  praiseworthy  worn 
an,  who  lived  twenty-eight  years,  more  or  less  ;  she  passed  with  her 
husband  fifteen  years,  eleven  months,  ten  days."  She  was,  therefore, 
married  when  about  twelve  years  of  age.  The  earliest  date  of  mar- 
riage we  have  noticed  is  the  following :  constantiae  benemerenti 

BERGINIVS  CASTAE  CONFARAE  •  CVM  QVA  •  FECIT  ANNIS  VIII.  QVE  VICSIT 

(jiV)ankisxviii  MENSES  Villi  •  DIES  XVII. — "  Virginius,  to  the  we!l-de- 
serving  (3onstantia,  his  chaste  consort,  with  whom  he  lived  eight  years, 
who  lived  eighteen  years,  nine  months,  seventeen  days."  She  Wiis 
less  than  eleven  years  old  when  married.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind, 
however,  that  marriage  still  occurs  at  a  very  early  age  in  these  south- 
ern latitudes,  as  both  seces  attain  nubile  years  much  sooner  than  in 
northern  climates.  Eut  this  precocious  maturity  is  followed,  especially 
in  females,  by  a  premature  decline.  Likw  the  brilliant  flowers  of  their 
own  fervid  clime,  they  ee/ly  bloom  and  quickly  fade. 


Social  and  Domestic  Rehtions. 


475 


Similar  language  of  mingled  love  and  grief  occurs  in 
pagin  inscriptions,  but  without  the  chastening  influence 
of  Christian  resignation.  The  domestic  life  of  the  Ro- 
mans, especially  in  the  days  of  republican  simplicity, 
seems  to  have  been  remarkably  Tree  fiom  discord  oi 
strife.  Thus  we  find  frequent  record  of  over  half  a 
century  passed  in  marriage,  sine  ivrgio,  sine  aemv- 
LATiONE,  SINE  DissiDio,  SINE  QVERELA — "  Without  Con- 
tention, without  emulation,  without  dissension,  with- 
out strife."  \Vi*h  ceaseless  iteration  the  virtues  of 
the  deceased  are  lovingly  recorded,  as  in  the  examples 
which  follow  con:vgem  fidelissimam — "  Most  faithful 
wife ;  "  OPTIMA  domina  sanctissim a — "  Best  and  most  re- 
vered lady;"   MARITAE  PIISSIMAE    DVLCISSIMAE  RARISSI 

MAE — "  To  a  most  pious  and  sweet  wife  of  rarest  excel- 
lence;" OPTIMA  ET  PVLCHERRIMA  LANIFICA  PIA  PVDICA 

CASTA  DOMESEDA — "  Best  and  most  beautiful,  a  spinner 
of  wool,  pious,  modest,  chaste,  home-abiding ; "  vxoRi 
OBSEQVENTissiMAE-^"To  a  most  obedient  (or  obsequi- 
ous) wife  ;  "  T.  FL.  CAPITO  CONIVCI  CASTTSSIMAE  PIISSIMAE 
ET  DE  SE  OPTIME  MERITAE  DE  QVA  NVLLVM  DOLOREM  NISI 
ACERBISSIMAE  MORTIS  EIVS  ACCEPERAT — "  TitUS  Flavius 

Capito,  to  his  most  chaste  and  pious  wife,  deserving 
well  of  him,  from  whom  he  received  no  cause  of  grief, 
except  that  of  her  most  bitter  death ; "  tempivs  her- 

MEROS  CONIVGI  CARISSIMAE  .  .  .  CVIVS  DESIDERIO  IVRA- 
TVS  est  SE  POST  EAM  VXOREM  NON  HABITVRVM — "  Tem- 

pius  Hermeros,  to  his  most  dear  spouse,  on  account  of 
his  love  for  whom  he  swore  that  he  would  have  no 
other  wife."  Once  we  meet  the  strange  remark  by  a 
husband  of  his  wife,  cvivs  in  die  mortis  gratias  max- 
IMAS  EGi  APVD  DEOS  ET  APVD  HOMINES — "  On  the  day  of 
whose  death  I  gave  the  greatest  thanks  to  gods  and  men." 
It  was  probably  c.i  accountof  her  release  from  suffering 


» 


476 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


i  !! 
1 

1       > 

ii 


1  r 


In  the  accompanying  epitaph  a  bereaved  widow  la- 
ments her  irreparable  loss:   conivgi  desidkratissimo 

.  .  .  NVNC  NEQVE  TE  VIDEO  NEC  AMOR  SATIATVR  AMAN- 
TIS     ET    CONIVX    MISERA    FINEM    DEPOSCO    DOI.ORI — "  To 

my  most  deeply  regretted  husband  .  .  .  For  neither  do 
I  now  see  thee,  nor  is  the  affection  of  thy  loving  spouse 
satisfied ;  and  I,  a  miserable  wife,  implore  an  end  of  my 
sorrow." 

Such  examples  of  conjugal  affection  recall  to  mind 
the  immortal  love  of  Alcestis  in  the  Greek  myth,  dying 
for  her  bosom's  lord;  and  of  Arria,  in  Roman  story,  re- 
fusing to  survive  her  husband,  and  having  plunged  the 
dagger  into  her  own  breast,  with  dying  smile  exclaim- 
ing, Paff^non  dolet — "  It  hurts  not, my  Paetus."  * 

Another  interesting  class  of  Christian  inscriptions 
are  those  commemorating  fraternal  affection.  The 
following  are  typical  examples :  ioviano  karissimo 
FECIT  (j/V)  FRATRES  piENTissiMAE  (j/V) — "  To  dearest 
Jovianus,  his  most  affectionate  brothers  made  this ;  " 
TO  MAKAPIQ  HATAO  HATAAAOC  AAEA*02— "  To  the 
blessed  Paul,  his  brother  Hedulalos." 

In  the  accompanying  poetical  tribute  to  a  sister  the 
melancholy  consolation  of  mourning  the  lost  is  beauti- 
fully referred  to : 

SVME  SOROR  CARMEN  SOLATIA  TRISTA  (jfV)  FRATRIS 
QVI  SOLVS  GEMITV  HEC  (jiV)  TIBI  VERBA  DEDIT 

QUAE  TEGITVR  TVMVLO    SI  VIS  COGNOSCERE  LECTOR 
SVBLIMES  GESSIT  SANGVINIS  HAEC  TITVLOS 

MORIBVS  HEC  CRISTVM  SEMPER  COMITATA  SVPERSTES 
QVEM  POST  FATA  SIBI  CREDIDIT  ESSE  DVCEM. 

Sister,  take  these  verses,  the  sad  comfort  of  your  brother,  who,  in 
lonely  lamentation,  has  given  these  words  to  you.     Reader,  if  you 

I*  We  have  also  illustrations  of  the  fatal  facility  of  divorce  under 
the  Empire,  and  of  the  domestic  strife  and  crime  resulting  therefrom. 
In  the  following  epitaph  a  discardefd  wife  laments  the  murder  of  her 


Social  and  Domestic  R da t ions. 


477 


desire  lo  know  who  U  covered  by  this  tomb,  she  Iw^rc  names  which 
told  her  high  descent.  She,  when  alive,  always  followed,  in  her  con- 
duct, Christ,  who  she  believed  would  be  her  guide  after  death. 

Frequently  members  of  the  same  family  were  buried 
in  the  same  grave — lovely  and  pleasant  in  their  lives, 
and  in  their  death  not  divided.  Thus  we  read  of  a 
brother  and  sister  who  died  in  one  day,  and  were  buried 
together — vna  diemortvi  et  pakiter  tvmvi.atisvnt; 
of  a  certain  Antigonus  who  occupied  the  same  tomb 
with  his  sister — locvm  haret  cvm  sore  (sic)  sva;  and 
of  a  mother  who  shared  her  daughter's  grave — felicia 
CVM  filia  in  pace;  also  of  Claudia  and  Julia,  who  had 
secured  their  places  by  the  side  of  their  sweet  friend 
Calpurnia.  The  same  custom  sometimes  obtains  in 
pagan  sepulture,  as  indicated  by  the  following  epitaph 
of  a  husband  and  wife  who,  not  to  be  divorced  even  in 
death,  mingled  their  ashes  in  one  urn : 

PARATO  HOSPITIt)  CARA  IVNGVNT  CORFORA 
HAEC  RVRSVM  NOSTRAR  SKI)  PERPETVAE  NVPTIAE, 

In  a  prepared  rest  they  join  their  dear  bodies.     These  are  oar  sec- 
ond but  our  perpetual  nuptials.* 

Sometimes  the  funeral  tablet  was  erected  by  the  hand 
of  friendship,  probably  when  there  were  none  of  kin  to 

child  by  the  usurper  of  her  rights :  mater  filio  piissimo  misera 
ET  IN  LVCTV  ETERNALi  VENEFicio  NOVERCAE — "  To  her  most  affec- 
tionate son,  the  vrretched  mother,  plunged  in  perpetual  grief  by  the 
poison  of  his  step-mother,  (raised  this  slab.) "  There  is  also  a  curious 
inscription  written  jointly  by  two  living  husbands  to  the  same  de- 
ceased wife,  in  which  she  is  designated,  coNivx  bene  merenta  {sic)  — 
"A  well-deserving  consort."  Another  slab  is  dedicated  to  both  the 
wife  and  the  concubine— VXORI  et  concvbinae— of  a  Roman  lictor. 
*  In  like  manner,  with  more  tender  sentiment  than  we  would  have 
expected  in  the  stolid  monarch,  George  II.  was,  in  accordance  with 
his  own  request,  laid  in  death  beside  his  good  and  gentle  consort  long 
deceased,  and  the  partition  between  then  removed,  "  that  their  dust 
might  blend  together." 


478 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\  1 


pay  this  last  sad  tribute  of  afTection.  I)c  Rossi  thinks 
that  which  follows  one  of   the  most  ancient  in  Rome : 

DORMITIONI  T.  FLA.  EVTYCHIO.  HVNC  LOCVM  DONABIT 
M.  ORRIVS  AMICVS  KARISSIMVS  KARF,  BALE — "  As  a  resting 

place  for  Titus  Flavius  Eutychius,  his  dearest  friend, 
Marcus  Orbius,  gave  this  spot.  Farewell,  beloved."  One 
fair   friend    thus   commemorates   the  loss  of   another: 

AELIA  VICTORINA  POSVIT  AVRELIAE  PROBAE — "^liaVic- 

torina  erected  this  stone  to  Aurelia  Proba."  We  find  also 
such  expressions  as,  *'  Best  friend,"  "  Dear  and  faithful 
companion,"  "  Constant  in  love  and  truth."  Sometimes  a 
lowly  servant  or  freedman  records  a  master's  virtues,  as 
in  the  epitaph  of  Gordianus,  erected  by  his  handmaid 
Theophila— Te*HAA  anchaaa  ♦EC1T(«V);  and  that  of 
Prosenes,  which  Ampelius,  his  freedman,  wrote — scrip- 
sit  AMPELivs    LIB,     Another  was  buried  by  her  sweet 

and  holy  nurse  in  Christ— BPEnTElPAN  TAYKEPHN  An  AN 
EN  XPO. 

The  duration  of  sickness,  or  cause  of  death,  is  some- 
times, though  very  rarely,  mentioned  in  Christian  in- 
scriptions. Thus  we  have  such  particulars  as  perit  in 
DIES  V — "  He  died  in  five  days ;  "  ENOCHCEN  HMEPAC  IB 
— "He  was  ill  twelve  days."  A  pagan  epitaph  com- 
plains of  the  death  of  the  deceased  by  magical  incanta- 
tions :  carminibvs  defixa  iacvit  per  tempora  mvta 

VT    EIVS  SPIRITVS  VI    EXTORQVERETVR    QVAM    NATVRAE 

redderetvr — "  Overcome  by  charms  she  lay  at  times 
dumb,  so  that  her  spirit  was  torn  from  her  by  force 
rather  than  given  back  to  nature."  Another  was 
snatched  away  while  she  too  sedulously  nursed  a  sick 
husband — dvm  fovit  nimia  sedvlitate  virvm.  An- 
'  other  died  of  internal  burnings,  which  medical  skill 
was  powerless  to  cope  with — ardentes  intvs  vin- 
cere  qvos    medicae    non    potvere   manvs.      Of  an- 


!,i 


Social  and  Domestic  Rchtiom 


479 


other  we  read  that  after  lonj^  and  various  infirmitieH 
she    is  freed    from    human  thin^js — post    lonc.as    et 

VARIAS    INFIRMITATES     HVMANIS    RK.IIVS    EXEMPTA    EST.* 

Like  this  is  the  expression  in  a  ('hristian  epitaph — post 
VARIAS  CVRAS  POST  lon(;ae  mvnera  vitae — "  After 
various  cares,  after  the  duties  of  a  long  life." 

The  same  spirit  which  thus  commemorated  the  de- 
parted would  lead  also  to  the  decoration  of  their  sepul- 
chres with  pious  frescoes  or  elaborate  sculpture,  limned 
or  carved  often  as  a  last  offering  of  love  by  the  hand 
of  affection  or  of  friendship — now  for  fifteen  centuries 
kindred  dust  with  that  whose  resting-place  it  so  fondly 
sought  to  beautify. 

We  should  do  scant  justice,  however,  to  the  blameless 
character,  simple  dignity,  and  moral  purity  of  the  prim- 
itive Christians,  as  indicated  in  these  posthumous 
remains,  if  we  forgot  the  thoroughly  effete  and  corrupt 
society  by  which  they  were  surrounded.  It  would  seem 
almost  impossible  for  the  Christian  graces  to  grow  in 
such  a  fetid  atmosphere.  Like  the  snow-white  lily 
springing  in  virgin  purity  from  the  muddy  ooze,  they  are 
more  lovely  by  contrast  with  the  surrounding  pollutions. 
Like  flowers  that  deck  a  sepulchre,  breathing  their  fra- 
grance amid  scenes  of  corruption  and  death,  are  these 
holy  characters,  fragrant  with  the  breath  of  heaven 
amid  the  social  rottenness  and  moral  death  of  their  foul 
environment. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine,  and  impossible  to  portray, 
the  abominable  pollutions  of  the  times.  "  Society," 
says  Gibbon,  "  was  a  rotting,  aimless  chaos  of  sensuality." 
It  was  a  boiling  Acheron  of  seething  passions,  unhal- 
lowed lusts,  and  tiger  thirst  for  blood,  such  as  never 
provoked  the  wrath  of  heaven  since  God  drowned  the 
*  Several  of  these  examples  are  translated  from  Kenrick. 


48o 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


% 


m 


W     \    : 


■1« 


world  with  water,  or  destroyed  the  Cities  of  the  Plain 
by  fire.  Only  those  who  have  visited  the  secret  muse- 
um of  Naples,  or  that  house  which  no  woman  may 
enter  at  Pompeii,  and  whose  paintings  no  pen  may  de- 
scribe; or  who  are  familiar  with  the  scathing  denuncia- 
tions of  popular  vices  by  the  Roman  satirists  and  moral- 
ists and  by  the  Christian  Fathers,  can  conceive  the 
appalling  depravity  of  the  age  and  nation.  St.  Paul,  in 
his  epistle  to  the  church  among  this  very  people,  hints 
at  some  features  of  their  exceeding  wickedness.  It 
was  a  shame  even  to  speak  of  the  things  which  were 
dors  by  them,  but  which  gifted  poets  employed  their 
wit  to  celebrate.  A  brutalized  monster  was  deified  as 
God,  received  divine  homage,*  and  beheld  all  the  world 
at  his  feet  and  the  nations  tremble  at  his  nod,  while  the 
multitude  wallowed  in  a  sty  of  sensuality.f 

Christianity  was  to  be  the  new  Hercules  to  cleanse 
this  worse  than  Augean  pollution.  The  pure  morals 
and  holy  ?.ives  of  the  believers  were  a  perpetual  testi- 
mony against  abounding  iniquity,  and  a  living  proof  of 
the  regenerating  power  and  transforming  grace  of  God. 
For  they  themselves,  as  one  of  their  apologists  asserts, 
"  had  been  reclaimed  from  ten  thor  and  vices."  J  And 
the  Apostle,  describing  some  of  the  vilest  characters, 
exclaims,  "  Such  were  some  of  you,  but  ye  are  washed, 
ye  are  sanctified."  They  recoiled  with  the  utmost  ab- 
horrence from  the   pollutions  of  the  age,  and  became 

*  While  yet  alive,  Domitian  was  called,  Our  Lord  and  God — Dom- 
i litis  et  Deus  noster. 

f  A  licentious  poet,  recognizing  this  moral  corruption  as  the  cause 
of  national  decay,  exclaims : 

Hoc  fonte  derivata  clades 

In  patriam  populumque  fluxit. 

\  Origen,  Contra  Cels.,  i,  67.  Cf,  Jus.  Mar.,  Apol.,  ii,  61,  and  Tert., 
Apol.,  and  Ad.  iVdf/.,  passim. 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


481 


luse 


indeed  "  the  salt  of  the  earth,"  the  sole  moral  antiseptic 
to  pre^    nt  the  total  disintegration  of  society. 

The  Christians  were  daily  exposed  to  contact  with 
idolatry.  The  whole  public  and  private  life  of  the  hea- 
then was  pervaded  with  the  spirit  of  polytheism.  Idol- 
atrous usages  were  interwoven  with  almost  every  act. 
The  courts  of  justice,  the  marts  of  trade,  the  highways 
and  gardens,  the  fountains  and  rivers,  the  domestic 
hearth,  and  the  very  doors  and  hinges,  were  under 
the  protection  of  their  respective  deities.  The  imple- 
ments oi"  labour,  the  household  utensils,  the  military 
ensigns,  the  achievements  of  art,  the  adornments  of 
beauty,  were  all  consecrated  to  idol  worship.  The  daily 
meals  and  rites  of  hospitality,  the  social  banquets  and 
public  amusements,  the  common  language  and  saluta- 
tions of  friendship,  had  all  a  religious  significance. 

The  Christians  were  therefore  especially  exhorted  to 
"  keep  themselves  from  idols."  They  believed  that 
their  images  were  the  abodes  of  daemons  who  delighted 
in  the  reek  of  blood  and  the  fetid  odour  of  sacrificial 
flesh.*  Against  image-makers  the  severest  ecclesiasti- 
cal censures  were  denounced.  They  were  the  foster 
fathers  of  devils,t  to  whom  they  offered  not  the  sacri- 
fice of  a  beast,  but  immolated  their  mind,  poured  the 
libation  of  their  sweat,  kindled  the  torch  of  their 
thought,  and  slew  the  richer  and  more  precious  victim 
of  their  salvation. {  The  believers  might  not  wreath 
their  gates,  nor  illuminate  their  houses,  nor  attend 
the  public  festivals,  nor  witness  a  sacrifice,  nor  accept 
a  heathen  salutation,  nor  sell  incense,  nor  eat  meat  pol- 

*  Tertul.,  Apol,  22. 

\  Fabri  deomm  vel  parentes  numinum. — Prudentius,   Peristeph.^ 
Hymn  x,  293. 
X  Tertul.,  De  Idol.,  vi. 

81 


482 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


V  \ 


ip: 


luted  with  idolatrous  lustration.*  Thus  amid  pagan 
usages  and  unspeakable  moral  degradation  the  Chris- 
tians lived?  a  holy  nation,  a  peculiar  people.  "We 
alone  are  without  crime,"  says  Tertullian ;  "  no  Christian 
suffers  but  for  his  religion."  "Your  prisons  are  full," 
says  Minutius  Felix,  "but  they  contain  not  one  Chris- 
tian." And  these  holy  lives  were  an  arguuient  which 
even  the  heathen  could  not  gainsay.  The  ethics  of 
paganism  were  the  speculations  of  the  cultivated  few 
who  aspired  to  the  character  of  philosophers.  The 
ethics  of  Christianity  were  a  system  of  practical  duty 
affecting  the  daily  life  of  the  most  lowly  and  unlettered. 
"Philosophy,"  says  Lecky,  "may  dignify,  but  is  impo- 
tent to  regenerate  man;  it  may  cultivate  virtue,  but 
cannot  restrain  vice."  f  But  Christianity  introduced  a 
new  sense  of  sin  and  of  holiness,  of  everlasting  reward, 
and  of  endless  condemnation.  It  planted  a  sublime, 
impassioned  love  of  Christ  in  the  heart,  inflaming  all 
its  affections.  It  transformed  the  character  from  icy 
stoicism  or  epicurean^  selfishness  to  a  boundless  and  un- 
calculating  self-abnegation  and  devotion. t 

This  divine  principle  developed  a  new  instinct  of 
philanthropy  in  the  soul.  A  feeling  of  common  broth- 
erhood knit  the  hearts  of  the  believers  together.  To 
love  a  slave,  to  love  an  enemy !  was  accounted  the  im- 
possible among  the  heathen ;  yet  this  incredible  virtue 
they  beheld  every  day  among  the  Christians.  "  This 
surprised  them  beyond  measure,"  says  Tertullian,  "  that 

*  The  martyr  Lucian  chose  to  die  rather  than  to  eat  things  offered 
to  idols. 

f  Hist,  of  Eur.  Morals^  ii,  34. 

\  The  Padago^^us  of  Clement  of  Alexandria  was  prepared  as  a 
guide  or  "Instructor"  to  those  who  were  striving  to  free  themselves 
from  pagan  customs,  and  to  conform  their  lives  to  the  Christian 
i,naracter. 


Social  and  Domestic  Relatione. 


483 


as  a 
Iselves 
istian 


one  man  should  die  for  another."*  Hence,  in  the 
Christian  inscriptions  no  word  of  bitterness  even  toward 
their  persecutors  is  to  be  found.  Sweet  peace,  the 
peace  of  God  that  passeth  all  understanding,  breathes 
on  every  side. 

One  of  the  most  striking  results  of  the  new  spirit  of 
philanthropy  which  Christianity  introduced  is  seen  in 
the  copious  charity  of  the  primitive  church.  Amid  the 
ruins  of  ancient  palaces  and  temples,  theatres  and  baths, 
there  are  none  of  any  house  of  mercy.  Charity  among  the 
pagans  was,  at  best,  a  fitful  and  capricious  fancy.  Among 
the  Christians  it  was  a  vast  and  vigorous  organization,  and 
was  cultivated  with  noble  enthusiasm.  And  the  great 
and  wicked  city  of  Rome,  with  its  fierce  oppressions  and 
inhuman  wrongs,  afforded  amplest  opportunity  for  the 
Christ-like  ministrations  of  love  and  pity.  There  were 
Christian  slaves  to  succour,  exposed  to  unutterable  in- 
dignities and  cruel  punishment,  even  unto  crucifixion 
for  conscience'  sake.  There  were  often  martyrs*  pangs 
to  assuage,  the  aching  wounds  inflicted  by  the  rack  or 
by  the  nameless  tortures  of  the  heathen  to  bind  up,  and 
their  bruised  and  broken  hearts  to  cheer  with  heavenly 
consolation.  There  were  outcast  babes  to  pluck,  from 
death.  There  were  a  thousand  forms  of  suffering  and 
sorrow  to  relieve,  and  the  ever-present  thought  of  Him 
who  came,  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister, 
and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many,  was  an  inspira- 
tion to  heroic  sacrifice  and  self-denial.  And  doubtless 
the  religion  of  love  won  its  way  to  many  a  stony  pagan 
heart  by  the  winsome  spell  of  the  saintly  charities 
and  heavenly  benedictions  of  the  persecuted  Chris- 
tians. This  sublime  principle  has  since  covered  the 
earth  with  its  institutions  of  mercy,  and  with  a  passion- 

♦  ApoL,  c.  39, 


484 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


i     i  ■> 


ate  zeal  has  sought  out  the  woes  of  man  in  every  land, 
in  order  to  their  relief.  In  the  primitive  church  volun- 
tary collections*  were  regularly  made  for  the  poor,  the 
aged,  the  sick,  the  brethren  in  bonds,  and  for  the  burial 
of  the  dead.  All  fraud  and  deceit  was  abhorred,  and 
all  usury  forbidden.  Many  gave  all  their  goods  to  feed 
the  poor.  "  Our  charity  dispenses  more  in  the  streets," 
says  Tertullian  to  the  heathen,  "  than  your  religion  in 
all  the  temples."  f  He  upbraids  them  for  oflfering  to 
the  gods  only  the  worn-out  and  useless,  such  as  is  given 
to  dogs, J  "  How  monstrous  is  it,"  exclaims  the  Alex- 
andrian Clement,  "  to  live  in  luxury  while  so  many  are 
in  want.  §  "As  you  would  receive,  show  mercy,"  says 
Chrysostom ;  "  make  God  your  debtor  that  you  may 
receive  again  with  usury."  I  The  church  at  Antioch, 
he  tells  us,  maintained  three  thousand  widows  and  vir- 
gins, besides  the  sick  and  poor.  Under  the  persecut- 
ing Decius  the  widows  and  infirm  under  the  care  of  the 
church  at  Rome  were  fifteen  hundred.  "  Behold  the 
treasures  of  the  church,"  said  St.  Lawrence,  pointing  to 
the  aged  and  poor,  when  the  heathen  prefect  came  to 
confiscate  its  wealth.  The  church  in  Carthage  sent  a 
sum  equal  to  four  thousand  dollars  to  ransom  Christian 
captives  in  Numidia.  St.  Ambrose  sold  the  sacred  ves- 
sels of  the  church  of  Milan  to  rescue  prisoners  from 
the  Goths,  esteeming  it  their  truest  consecration  to  the 
service  of  God.  "  Better  clothe  the  living  temples  of 
Christ,"  says  Jerome,  "  than  adorn  the  temples  of 
stone."  ^  "  God  has  no  need  of  plates  and  dishes," 
said  Acacius,  bishop  of  Amida,  and  he  ransomed  there- 
with a  number  of  poor  captives.     For  a  similar  purpose 

*  Nemo  compellitur,  sed  sponte  confert. — ApoL,  c.  39. 

f  Ibtd.,  42.  X  Ibid.,  14.  §  A   %'.,  ii,  13. 

[  Horn,  in  2  Tim.  T[  Epitaph.  Paula, 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


485 


•f 


Paulinus  of  Nola  sold  the  treasures  of  his  beautiful 
church,  and  it  is  said  even  sold  himself  into  African 
slavery.*  The  Christian  traveller  was  hospitably  enter- 
tained by  the  faithful ;  and  before  the  close  of  the 
fourth  century  asylums  were  provided  for  the  sick,  aged, 
and  infirm.  During  the  Decian  persecution,  when  the 
streets  of  Carthage  were  strewn  with  the  dying  and  the 
dead,  the  Christians,  With  the  scars  of  recent  torture 
and  imprisonment  upon  them,  exhibited  the  nobility  of 
a  gospel  revenge  in  their  care  for  their  fever-smitten 
persecutors,  and  seemed  to  seek  the  martyrdom  of 
Christian  charity,  even  more  glorious  than  that  they  had 
escaped. t  In  the  plague  of  Alexandria  six  hundred 
Christian  parabolani  periled  their  lives  to  succour  the 
dying  and  bury  the  dead.t  Julian  urged  the  pagan 
priests  to  imitate  the  virtues  of  the  lowly  Christians. 

Christianity  also  gave  a  new  sanctity  to  human  life, 
and  even  denounced  as  murder  the  heathen  custom  of 
destroying  the  unborn  child.  The  exposure  of  infants 
was  a  fearfully  prevalent  pagan  practice,  which  even 
Plato  and  Aristotle  permitted.  We  have  had  evidences 
of  the  tender  charity  of  the  Christians  in  rescuing  these 
foundlings  from  death,  or  from  a  fate  more  dreadful 
still — a  life  of  infamy.  Christianity  also  emphatically 
affirmed  the  Almighty's  "  canon  '  ;ainst  self-slaughter," 
which  crime  the  pagans  had  even  exalted  into  a  virtue. 
It  taught  that  a  patient  endurance  of  suffering,  like 
Job's,  exhibited  a  loftier  courag-.  ihan  Cato's  renuncia- 
tion of  life. 

Out  of  eleven  thousand  Christian  inscriptions  of  the 
first  six  centuries,  scarce  half  a  dozen  make  any  ref- 
erence to  a  condition  of  servitude,  and  of  these,  as 


/<«. 


*  Greg.,  Dial.^  ill. 
\  Euseb.,  H.  £.,  ix,  8. 


f  Ft  fa  Cypr. 


p 


486 


7'/te  Catacottbs  of  Rome. 


m 


ii! 


Dr.  Northcote  remarks,  two  or  tliree  are  do^'btful.  Yet 
of  pagan  epitaphs  at  least  three  fourths  are  those  of  slaves 
or  freedmen.  The  conspicuous  absence  of  recognition 
of  this  unhappy  social  distinction  is  no  mere  accident. 
We  know  that  the  Christians  were  largely  drawn  from 
the  servile  classes,  but  in  the  church  of  God  there  was 
no  respect  of  persons.  The  gospel  of  liberty  smote  the 
gyves  at  once  from  the  bodies  and  the  souls  of  men. 
In  Christ  Jesus  theie  was  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  bond 
nor  free.  The  wretched  slave,  in  the  intervals  of  toil 
or  torture,  caught  with  joy  the  emancipating  message, 
and  sprang  up  enfranchised  by  an  immortalizing  hope. 
Then  "  trampled  manhood  heard  and  claimed  his 
crown."  The  victim  of  human  oppression  exulted  in 
a  new-found  liberty  ii.  Christ  which  no  wealth  could 
purchase,  no  chains  of  slavery  fetter,  nor  even  death 
itself  destroy.  To  him  earth's  loftiest  palace  was  but 
a  gilded  prison  of  the  soul,  his  lowly  cot  became  the 
antechamber  of  the  skies,  and  his  emancipated  spirit 
passed  from  his  pallet  of  straw  to  the  repose  of  Abra- 
ham's bosom. 

In  the  Christian  church  the  distinctions  of  worldly 
rank  were  abolished.*  The  highest  spiritual  dignities 
were  open  to  the  lowliest  slave.  In  the  ecclesiastical 
hierarchy  were  no  rights  of  birth,  and  no  privileges  of 
blood.  In  the  inscriptions  of  the  Catacombs  no  badges 
of  servitude,  no  titles  of  honour  appear.  The  wealthy 
noble — the  lord  of  many  acres — recognized  in  his  lowly 
servant  a  fellow-heir  of  glory.  They  bowed  together  at 
the  same  table  of  the  Lord,  saluted  each  other  with  the 
mutual  kiss  of  charity,  and  side  by  side  in  their  narrow 
graves  at   length   returned   to  indistinguishable   dust. 

*  Apud  nos  inter  pauperes  et  divites,  servos  et  dominos,  interest 
nihil. — Lactant.,  /?.r.  Inst.,  v.  14,  15. 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


487 


The  story  of  Oneslmus  may  have  often  been  repeated, 
and  the  patrician  master  have  received  his  returning 
slave,  *'  not  now  as  a  servant,  but  above  a  servant-— 
a  brother  beloved."  Nay,  he  may  have  bowed  to  him  as 
his  ecclesiastical  superior,  and  received  from  his  ple- 
beian hands  the  emblems  of  their  common  Lord.  The 
lowly  arenarii  and  fossors,  the  rude  Campagnian  hus- 
bandmen and  shepherds,  and  they  "  of  Caesar's  house- 
hold," met  in  common  brotherhood,  knit  together  by 
stronger  ties  than  those  of  kinship  or  of  worldly  rank, 
as  heirs  of  glory  and  of  everlasting  life. 

The  condition  of  the  slave  population  of  Rome  wr.a 
one  of  inconceivable  wretchedness.  Colossal  piles  built 
by  their  blood  and  sweat  attest  the  bitterness  of  their 
bondage.  The  lash  of  the  taskmaster  was  heard  in  the 
fields,  and  crosses  bearing  aloft  their  quivering  victims 
polluted  the  public  highways.  Vidius  PoUio  fed  his 
lampreys  with  the  bodies  of  his  slaves.  Four  hundred 
of  these  wretched  beings  deluged  with  their  blood  the 
funeral  pyre  of  Pedanius  Secundus.  A  single  freed- 
man  possessed  over  four  thousand  of  these  human  chat- 
tels. They  had  no  rights  of  marriage  nor  any  claim  to 
their  children.  This  dumb,  weltering  mass  of  human- 
ity, crushed  by  power,  led  by  their  lusts,  and  fed  by 
public  dole,  became  a  hot-bed  of  vice  in  which  every 
evil  passion  grew  apace.  The  institution  of  slavery 
cast  a  stigma  of  disgrace  on  labour,  and  prevented  the 
formation  of  that  intelligent  middle  class  which  is  the 
true  safeguard  of  liberty.  Christianity,  on  the  contrary, 
dignified,  ennobled,  and  in  a  sense  hallowed  labour  by 
the  example  of  its  Divine  Founder.  It  consecrated  the 
lowly  virtues  of  humility,  obedience,  gentleness,  pa- 
tience, and  long-suffering,  which  paganism  contemned. 
It  did  not,  indeed,  at  once  subvert  the  political  institu- 


488 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


lu 


V 


\\s 


lion  of  slavery,  but  it  mitigated  its  evils,  and  gradually 
led  to  its  abolition. 

One  of  the  noblest  triumphs  of  Christianity  was  its 
suppression  of  the  bloody  spectacles  of  the  amphithe- 
atre. The  early  Christians  had  good  reason  to  regard 
with  shuddering  aversion  those  accursed  scenes  within 
that  vast  Coliseum  which  rears  to-day  its  mighty  walls,  a 
perpetual  monument  of  the  cruelty  of  Rome's  Christless 
creed.  Many  of  their  number  had  been  mangied  to  death 
by  savage  beasts  or  still  more  savage  men,  surrounded 
by  a  sea  of  pitiless  faces,  twice  eighty  thousand  hungry 
eyes  gloating  on  the  mortal  agony  of  the  confessor  of 
Christ,  while  not  a  single  thumb  was  reversed  to  make 
the  sign  of  mercy.*  There  the  maids  and  matrons,  the 
patricians  and  the  "  vile  plebs  "  of  Rome,  enjoyed  the 
grateful  spectacle  of  cruelty  and  blood.  Even  woman\ 
pitiful  nature  forgot  its  tenderness,  and  the  honour  was 
reserved  for  the  vestal  virgin  to  give  the  signal  for  the 
mortal  stroke  that  crowned  the  martyr's  brow  with  fade- 
less amaranth.  These  hateful  scenes,  in  which  the 
spectacle  of  human  agony  and  death  became  the  im- 
passioned delight  of  all  classes,  created  a  ferocious 
thirst  for  blood  and  torture  throughout  society.f  They 
overthrew  the  altar  of  pity,  and  impelled  to  every  excess 
and  refinement  of  barbarity.  Even  children  imitated 
the  cruel  sport  in  their  games,  schools  of  gladiators  were 
trained  for  the  work  of  slaughter,  and  women  fought  in 
the  arena,  or  lay  dead  and  trampled  in  the  sand. 

*  The  arena,  once  crimson  with  human  gore,  is  now  consecrated 
by  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  a  Christian  service  is  \  sekly  celebrated 
on  the  spot  where  a  pagan  emperor  sought  to  crush  the  infant  church. 

\  Under  Trajan,  renowned  for  his  clemency,  ten  thousand  men 
fought  in  the  games  which  lasted  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  days. 
To  stimulate  the  jtded  minds  of  the  spectators  men  were  in^paled, 
crucified,  and  burned  to  death. 


Social  ami  Domestic  Rciations. 


489 


From  the  very  first  Christianity  relentlessly  opposed 
this  horrid  practice,  as  well  as  all  theatrical  exhibitions. 
The  mingled  cruelty,  idolatry,  and  indecency  of  the 
performances  were  obnoxious  alike  to  the  humanity, 
the  piety,  and  the  modesty  of  the  Christians.*  They 
were  especially  included  in  the  pomps  of  Satan  which 
the  believer  abjured  at  his  baptism.  Hence  their  aban- 
donment  was  often  regarded  as  a  proof  of  conversion 
lo  Christianity.  The  theatre  was  the  devil's  house,  and 
he  had  a  right  to  all  found  therein. f  Christianity,  soon 
after  it  ascended  the  throne  of  the  Caesars,  suppressed 
the  gladiatorial  combats.  The  Christian  city  of  Con< 
stantinople  was  never  polluted  by  the  atrocious  exhibi- 
tion. A  Christian  poet  eloquently  denounced  the  bloody 
spectacle,  and  a  Christian  monk,  at  the  cost  of  his  life, 
protested,  amid  the  very  frenzy  of  the  conflict,  against 
its  cruelty.  His  heroic  martyrdom  produced  a  moral 
revulsion  against  the  practice,  and  the  laws  of  Hono> 
rius,  to  use  the  language  of  Gibbon,  "  abolished  forever 
the  human  sacrifices  of  the  amphitheatre." 

It  is  remarkable  that  so  few  references  to  military  life 
occur  in  Christian  epitaphs,  whereas  they  form  a  prom- 
inent feature  in  those  of  heathen  origin.     In  ten  thou- 

*  The  De  Spectaculis  of  Tertullian  is  an  elaborate  argument  con- 
cerning the  idolatrous  origin  and  character  of  the  theatre.  He  de- 
scribes, in  language  applicable  to  much  of  the  "  sport "  of  modem 
times,  the  human  wild  beasts,  passion-blind,  agitated  by  bets,  and  out 
of  themselves  with  excitement.  "  You  have  nobler  joys,"  he  says  to 
the  Christians.  "  Be  startled  at  God's  signal,  roused  at  the  angel's 
trump,  glory  in  the  palms  of  martyrdom.  Would  you  have  blood 
too  ?  There  is  Christ's,"  (sec.  29.)  He  expatiates  on  the  grandeur 
of  the  spectacle  when  the  world,  hoary  with  age,  shall  be  consumed  ; 
contrasts  with  the  theatre  the  sight  of  poets,  players,  philosophers,  and 
kings  in  agonies  and  flames ;  and  exults  in  the  triumph  of  Christ," 
(sec.  30,) 

f  Tertul.,  De  Spectac,  sec.  26. 


490 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


W' 


Ml 


'     1 


sand  pagan  inscriptions  analyzed  by  M.  Le  Blant,  over 
five  hundred.  o»-  more  precisely,  5-47  per  cent.,  were  of 
military  chi  ,  .1  ;  while  in  four  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred of  Christian  origin,  most  of  which  were  after  the 
period  of  Constantine,  only  .57  per  cent.,  were  military, 
or  one  tenth  the  proportion  of  those  among  the  pagans. 
But  even  if  in  the  army,  the  Christians,  whose  higher 
dignity  was  that  of  soldiers  of  Christ,  would  be  less 
likely  than  the  heathen  to  mention  it  in  their  epitaphs. 
Although  'I'ertullian  inveighs  against  the  military  ser- 
vice,* he  yet  admits  that  the  Christians  engaged  in  that 
as  well  as  in  other  pursuits,!  and  asserts  that  they  were 
found  even  in  the  camps. J  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  the  number  in  the  army  was  insignificant,  and  these, 
it  is  most  likely,  were  converted  after  their  enlistment. 
There  could  be  little  affinity  between  the  bronzed  and 
hardened  ruffians  who  were  the  instruments  of  the  reign- 
ing tyrant's  cruelty,  and  the  meek  and  gentle  Christians. 
We  know  that  the  latter  had  often  to  choose  between 
the  sword  and  the  gospel;  and  many  resigned  their 
office,  and  even  embraced  martyrdom,  rather  than  per- 
jure their  consciences.  §  They  could  not  take  the  mil- 
itary oath,  nor  deck  their  weapons  with  laurel,  nor  crown 
the  emperor's  effigy,  nor  celebrate  his  birthday,  nor  ob- 

*  De  Idol.,  c.  19. 

f  Navigamus . . .  et  niilitnmus,  et  nisticamus,  et  inercamur. — Apol., 
c.  42. 

\  Implevimus . . .  castra  ipsa. — Jbid.,  c.  37.  The  story  of  the  Thun- 
dering Legion,  composed  entirely  of  Christians,  is  unable  to  withstand 
tne  destnictive  criticism  of  modern  times.  The  following  is  the  epi- 
taph of  a  military  commander:  vitalianvs  magister  mimtvm, 
QVIESCIT  IN  DOMINO.  We  have  already  seen  that  of  an  oflicer— 
DVX  MILITVM — who  Suffered  martyrdom  under  Adrian. 

§  Euseb.,  H.  E.y  viii,  4.  No  one  in  either  the  civil  or  military 
service  of  the  emperor  was  eligible  for  ordination  even  as  a  deacon. 
— Bingham,  Orig.  Eccl.,  iv,  3,  sec.  i. 


Social  and  Domestic  Riiations. 


491 


serve  any  other  idolatrous  festival.  Hence  they  were 
accused  of  the  dreaded  crime  of  treason,  and  announced 
as  the  enemies  of  Caesar  and  of  the  Roman  people.* 
Tertullian  repels  the  charge,  and  demonstrates  their 
loyalty  to  the  emperor  and  to  their  country. f 

Feeling  that  their  citizenship  was  in  heaven,  the 
Christians  took  no  part  in  the  troubled  politics  of  earth. 
"  Nothing  is  more  indifferent  to  us,"  says  Tertullian, 
"than  public  affairs."  f  If  only  their  religious  convic- 
tions were  unassailed  they  would  gladly  live  in  quiet, 
unaffected  by  civic  ambition  or  by  worldly  strife. 
"  Themselves  half  naked,"  sneered  the  heathen,  "  they 
despise  honours  and  purple  robes."  ^  But  although  ac- 
cused of  being  profitless  to  the  state,  |  they  were  never- 
theless diligent  in  business  while  fervent  in  spirit.  "  We 
are  no  Brahmins  or  Indian  devotees,"  says  their  great 
apologist,  "  living  naked  in  the  woods,  and  banished 
from  civilized  life  '1^  They  were  no  drones  in  the  so- 
cial hive,  but  pat',erns  of  industry  and  thrift.  Inspired 
with  loftier  motives  than  their  heathen  neighbours,  they 
faithfully  discharged  life's  lowly  toils,  sedulously  culti- 
vated the  private  virtues,  and  followed  blamelessly  what- 
soever things  were  lovely  and  of  good  report. 

In  nothing,  however,  is  the  superiority  of  Christianity 
over  paganism  so  apparent  as  in  the  vast  difference  in 
ths  position  and  treatment  of  woman  in  the  respective 
systems.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  the  depths  of  degra- 
dation into  which  woman  had  fallen  when  Christianity 

*  Hostes  Caesaruro,  hostes  populi  Romani. — Ceisus,  lib.  viii. 
f  Christianus  nulliui;  esthostis,  nedum  imperatoris. — Ad  Scapulum,  i. 
\  Nee  ulla  res  aliena  magis  quam  publica. — Apol.,  c.  38. 
§  Honores  et  purpuras  despiciunt  ipsi  seminudi. — In  Munic.  Fe- 
lix, viii. 

\  Infructuosi  in  negotiis  dicimur. — Tert ,  Apd.,  42. 
t  Ibid. 


H 


492 


y/ic  Catacofnbs  of  Rome, 


I 


I 


I ' 


'   \ 


came  to  rescue  her  from  infamy,  to  clothe  her  with  the 
domestic  virtues,  to  enshrine  her  amid  the  sanctities  of 
home,  and  to  employ  her  in  the  gentle  ministrations  of 
charity.  The  Greek  courtesan,  says  Lecky,  was  the 
finest  type  of  Greek  life — the  one  free  woman  of  Athens, 
But  how  world-wide  was  the  difference  between  the 
Greek  hctaia — a  Phryne  or  an  As|)asia,  though  hon- 
oured by  Socrates  and  Pericles — and  the  Christian  ma- 
trons Monica,  Marcella,  or  Fabiola.  So  much  does 
woman  owe  to  Christianity  !  In  Rome  her  condition 
was  still  worse.  The  heathen  satirists  paint  in  strong- 
est colours  the  prevailing  corruptions,  and  the  historians 
of  the  times  reveal  abounding  wickedness  that  shames 
humanity.  The  vast  wealth,  the  multiplication  of  slaves, 
the  influx  of  orientalism  with  its  debasing  vices,  had 
thoroughly  corrupted  society.  The  relations  of  the 
sexes  seemed  entirely  dislocated.  The  early  Roman 
ideas  of  marriage  were  forgotten  ;  it  had  no  moral,  only 
a  legal  character.  Woman,  reckless  of  her  "good 
name,"  had  lost  "  the  most  immediate  jewel  of  her  soul." 
The  Lucretias  and  Virginias  of  the  old  heroic  days  were 
beings  of  tradition.  A  chaste  woman,  says  Juvenal, 
was  a  rara  avis  in  terra.  The  Julias  and  Messalinas 
flaunted  their  wickedness  in  the  high  places  of  the  earth, 
and  to  be  Caesar's  wife  was  not  to  be  above  suspicion. 
Alas,  that  in  a  few  short  centuries  Christianity  should 
sink  so  low  that  the  excesses  of  a  Theodora  should  rival 
those  of  an  Agrippina  or  a  Julia !  Even  the  loftiest 
pagan  moralists  and  philosophers  recklessly  disregarded 
the  most  sacred  social  obligation  al  their  mere  caprice. 
Cicero,  who  discoursed  so  nobly  concerning  the  nature 
of  the  gods,  divorced  his  wife  Terentia  that  lie  might 
mend  his  broken  fortunes  by  marrying  his  wealthy 
ward.      Cato   ceded    his   wife,    with    the    consent    of 


lii^ 


Social  ami  Domestic  Rclatiofis. 


493 


her  father,  to  his  friend  Hortensius,  taking  her  bark  after 
his  death.  Woman  was  not  a  person,  but  a  ////>/>:,  says 
Clibbon.  Her  rights  and  interests  were  lost  in  those  of 
her  husband.  She  should  have  no  friends  nor  gods 
but  his,  says  Phitarch.  It  was  the  age  of  reckless 
divorce.  In  the  early  days  of  the  Commonwealth  there 
had  been  no  divorce  in  Rome  in  five  hundred  and  forty 
years.  In  the  reign  of  Nero,  says  Seneca,  the  women 
measured  their  years  by  their  husbands,  and  not  by  the 
consuls.  Juvenal  speaks  of  a  woman  with  eight  hus- 
bands in  five  years;*  and  Martial,  in  extravagant  hyper- 
bole, of  another  who  married  ten  husbands  in  a  month. f 
We  must  also  regard  as  an  exaggeration  the  account 
given  by  Jerome  of  a  woman  married  to  her  twenty-  third 
husband,  being  his  twenty-first  wife.J 

Nevertheless,  God  did  not  leave  himself  without  a 
witness  in  the  hearts  of  the  people ;  and  we  have  seen 
many  illustrations  of  conjugal  happiness  in  previous  in- 
scriptions. §  But  Christianity  first  taught  the  sanctity 
of  the  marriage  relation,  as  a  type  of  the  mystical  union 
between  Christ  and  his  church  ;  and  enforced  the  recip- 
rocal obligation  of  conjugal  fidelity,  which  was  previously 
regarded  as  binding  on  woman  alone.  In  their  recoil 
from  the  abominable  licentiousness  of  the  heathen,  the 
Christians  regarded  modesty  as  the  crown  of  all  the  vir- 
tues, and  against  its  violation  the  heaviest  ecclesiastical 
penalties  were  threatened.  This  regard  was  at  length 
intensified  into  a  superstitious  reverence  for  celibacy.  || 

♦  Sat.,  vi,  20.  f  Epig.,  vii,  6.  X  Epist,,  cxi. 

§  The  names  of  Penelope,  Andromache,  Alcestis,  and  Antigone 
will  be  forever  illustrious  types  of  the  domestic  virtues. 

\  The  Fathers  frequently  contrasted  the  few  heathen  vestal  virgins 
with  the  multitude  of  Christian  celibates.  The  Christian  emperors 
and  the  early  councils  resolutely  repressed  harlotry,  drunkenness, 
wanton  dancing,  and  immodest  plays  and  books. 


f 


i 


I    .. 


494 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


The  absolute  sinfulness  of  a  divorce  was  maintained 
by  the  early  councils.*  The  Fathers  admit  of  but  one 
cause,  that  which  Christ  himself  assigns,  as  rendering  it 
lawful,  t  They  also  denounced  second  marriage,  or 
bigamy,  as  it  was  called,  which  excluded  from  the 
clerical  order,  and  from  a  share  in  the  charities  of  the 
church.  X  The  marriage  relation  was  regarded  as  the 
union  of  two  souls  for  time  and  for  eternity.  § 

♦  Cone.  Nic,  8  ;  Ancyra,  19  ;  Laodic,  I ;  Neo  Caes.,  3. 

f  Tertul.,  Contr.  Marc,  iv,  34,  etc. 

X  Tertullian  wrote  a  special  treatise  on  the  subject — De  Mono- 
gaiiiia.  The  injunction  that  a  bishop  should  be  the  husband  of  one 
wife  was  regarded  as  a  prohibition  of  a  second  marriage.  Some  of 
the  Fathers,  however,  dissented  from  this  view,  as  Hermes,  {Pastor, 
ii,  4) ;  Augustine,  {De  Bono  Vidnitatis,  12).  On  many  pagan  tombs 
occurs  the  word  untvine — "  Once  married,"  There  are  several  ex- 
amples of  wives  in  the  prime  of  their  youth  and  beauty  devoting 
themselves  to  retirement  on  the  death  of  their  husbands,  as  the  wives 
of  Pompey,  of  Drusus.  and  of  Lucan. 

§  The  beauty  and  dignity  of  Christian  wedlock  are  nobly  expressed 
by  Tertullian  in  the  following  passage,  addressed  to  his  own  wife  : 
"  How  can  I  paint  the  happiness,"  he  exclaims,  "  of  a  marriage  which 
the  church  ratifies,  the  sacrament  confirms,  the  benediction  seals,  an- 
gels announce,  and  our  heavenly  Father  declares  valid  !  What  a 
union  of  two  believers — one  hope,  one  vow,  one  discipline,  one  wor- 
ship !  They  are  brother  and  sister,  two  fellow-servants,  one  spirit  and 
one  flesh.  They  pray  together,  fast  together,  exhort  and  support  one 
another.  They  go  together  to  the  house  of  God,  and  to  the  table  of 
the  Lord.  They  share  each  other's  trials,  persecutions,  and  joys. 
Neither  avoids  nor  hides  any  thing  from  the  other.  They  delight  to 
visit  the  sick,  sucour  the  needy,  and  daily  to  lay  their  offerings  be- 
fore the  altar  without  scruple  or  constraint.  They  do  not  need  to 
keep  the  sign  of  the  cross  hidden,  nor  to  express  secretly  their  Chris- 
tian joy,  nor  receive  by  stealth  the  eucharist.  They  join  in  psalms 
and  hymns,  and  strive  who  best  can  praise  God.  Christ  rejoices  at 
the  sight,  and  sends  his  peace  upon  them.  Where  two  are  in  his 
name  he  also  is  ;  and  where  he  is,  their  evil  cannot  come" — A<i  Uxo- 
rem,  ii,  8.  He  thus  describes  the  difficulties  which  a  Christian  wom- 
an married  to  an  idolater  must  encounter  in  her  religious  life  :  "  At 
the  time  for  worship  the  husband  will  appoint  the  use  of  the  bath  ; 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


495 


The  church,  following  the  principle  laid  down  by 
St.  Paul,  strongly  opposed  mixed  marriages  with  the 
heathen ;  and  the  Fathers  denounced  them  as  danger- 
ous and  immoral.  Cyprian  regards  them  as  a  prostitu- 
tion of  the  members  of  Christ.*  Tertullian  also  desig- 
nates them  spiritual  adultery. f  Where  conversion  oc- 
curred after  marriage,  the  Christian  partner  was  exhort- 
ed, in  the  spirit  of  the  apostolic  counsel,  to  strive  by 
gentleness  and  love  to  win  the  unbelieving  companion 
to  Christ.  Thus  Monica,  the  mother  of  Augustine,  and 
Clotildis,  the  wife  of  Clovis,  both  brought  their  heathen 
husbands  to  embrace  Christianity. 

The  rites  and  benedictions  of  the  church  were  early 
invoked  to  give  sanction  to  Christian  marriage; J  and 
doubtless  in  the  dim  recesses  of  the  Catacombs,  and 
surrounded  by  the  holy  dead,  youthful  hearts  must  have 
plighted  their  troth,  and  been  the  more  firmly  knit  to- 
gether by  the  common  perils  and  persecutions  they 
must  share.  Here,  too,  the  wedded  pair  may  have 
paced  the  silent  galleries,  by  holy  converse  inspired 
with  stronger  faith  and  more  fervent  love.  How  sweet 
must  discourse  of  heaven  have  been  in  those  sunless 


I 

i 
|f1 


when  a  fast  is  to  be  observed  he  will  invite  company  to  a  feast. 
When  she  would  bestow  alms,  both  safe  and  cellar  are  closed  against 
her.  What  heathen  will  suffer  his  wife  to  attend  the  nightly  meet- 
ini;s  of  the  church,  the  slandered  supper  of  the  Lord,  to  visit  the 
sick  even  in  the  poorest  hovels,  to  kiss  the  martyr's  chains  in  prison, 
to  rise  in  the  night  for  prayer,  to  show  hospitality  to  stranger  breth- 
ren ?  "—/^ict. 

*  Jungere  cum  infidelibus  vinculum  matrimonii  prostituere  gentil- 
ibus  membra  Christ;. 

f  Ad  Ux.y  ii,  2-g.  Jerome  says  that  women  married  to  heathen 
become  part  of  that  body  whose  ribs  they  are. — Cont.  yovin.,\,  5. 

\  Secret  marriages  were  forbidden,  nor  might  this  union  take  place 
y  ithout  the  approbation  of  the  earthly  as  well  as  of  the  heavenly  pa- 
rent.— Tert.,  Ad.  IJx.,  ii,  9. 


496 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


•\ 


f 


depths  of  earth !  How  thrilling  those  partings  when 
before  another  meeting  each  might  win  a  martyr's 
crown. 

When  the  church  emerged  from  the  Catacombs  the 
marriage  rites  assumed  a  more  festive  character,  and 
were  frequently  attended  with  nuptial  processions, 
songs,  music,  and  feasting.  Some  of  the  gilded  glasses 
previously  described  seem  to  commemorate  these  occa- 
sions. Thus  we  occasionally  find  representations  of  the 
man  and  woman  standing  with  clasped  hands  before  the 
marriage  altar,  while  Christ  crowns  the  newly  wedded 
pair.  Sometimes  the  glass  used  in  the  marriage  rite 
was  immediately  broken,  as  if  to  denote  the  tran- 
sient nature  of  even  the  highest  human  bliss.  The 
innocent  festivities  of  these  occasions  gradually  degen- 
erated into  convivial  excesse*' ;  and,  in  conformity  to 
heathen  usages,  were  contaminated  by  licentiousness 
of  speech  and  action  unbecoming  to  Christian  mod- 
esty. These  abuses  called  for  the  strong  denunciations 
of  the  Fathers  and  the  early  councils,  and  at  length 
the  clergy  were  forbidden  to  attend  such  festivals. 
The  early  Christians  were  required,  in  all  their  enter- 
tainments and  festivals,  by  temperance,*  by  purity,  by 
piety,  to  adorn  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel.  Prayer 
hallowed  their  daily  lives,  and  every  act  was  done  to  the 
glory  of  God. 

In  their  apparel  and  households  the  primitive  be- 
lievers were  patterns  of  sobriety  and  t,odliness.  The 
pomps  and  vanities  of  the  world  were  renounced  at 
their  baptism.  They  eschewed  all  sumptuous  and 
gaudy  clothing  as  unbecoming  the  gravity  and  sim- 
plicity of  the  Christian  character.     Although  many  by 

♦  "  Guard  against  drunkenness  as  against  hemlock,"  says  Clement 
of  Alexandria,  "  for  both  drag  down  to  death." — Padag.,  i,  7. 


i   I 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


497 


social  rank  were  entitled  to  wear  the  flowing  Roman 
toga,  yet  by  most  it  was  regarded  as  too  ostentatious  in 
appearance ;  and,  disdaining  all  assumption  of  worldly 
honour,  they  wore  instead  the  common  pallium  or  cloak. 
They  rejected  also,  as  the  epicurean  enticements  of 
a  world  the  fashion  whereof  was  passing  away,  the 
luxurious  draperies,  the  costly  cabinets  and  couches, 
the  golden  vessels  and  marble  statuary  that  adorned  the 
abodes  of  the  wealthy  heathen. 

The  strong  instinct  of  the  female  mind  to  personal 
adornment  was  suppressed  by  religious  convictions  and 
ecclesiastical  discipline ;  and  Christian  women  culti- 
vated rather  the  ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit 
than  the  meretricious  attractions  of  the  heathen.  "  Let 
your  comeliness  be  the  goodly  garment  of  the  soul,"  says 
Tertullian.  **  Be  arrayed  in  the  ornaments  of  the  apos- 
tles and  prophets,  drawing  your  whiteness  from  sim- 
plicity, your  ruddy  hue  from  modesty,  painting  your 
eyes  with  bashfulness,  your  mouth  with  silence,  implant- 
ing in  your  ears  the  word  of  God,  fitting  on  your  neck 
the  yoke  of  Christ.  Clothe  yourself  with  the  silk  of 
uprightness,  the  fine  linen  of  holiness,  the  purple  of 
modesty,  and  you  shall  have  God  himself  for  your  lover 
and  spouse."* 

"  Let  woman  breathe  the  odour  of  the  true  royal  oint- 
ment, that  of  Christ,  and  not  of  unguents  and  scented 
powders,"  writes  Clement  of  Alexandria,  warning  the 
faithful  against  another  heathen  pra.  ic:.  "Let  her  be 
anointed  with  the  ambrosial  chrism  of  industry,  and 
find  delight  in  the  holy  unguent  of  the  Spirit,  and  of- 
fer spiritual  fragrance.     She  may  not  crown  the  living 

♦  Df  Cultu  Fentinarum,  ii,  3-13 :  "  The  wife  should  weave  her  own 
apparel,"  says  Clement  of  Alexandria,  referring  to  Prov.  xxxi,  10-31. 
This  is  also  the  etymological  n.eaning  of  the  English  word  wife. 

32 


'   I 


» 


498 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


\m 


image  of  God  as  the  heathen  do  dead  idols.  Her  fair 
crown  is  one  of  amaranth,  which  groweth  not  on  earth, 
but  in  the  skies."*  The  simple  and  modest  garb  of 
the  Christian  matron  is  exhibited  in  many  of  the  repre- 
sentations of  orantiy  or  praying  figures,  in  the  chambers 
of  the  Catacombs.  See  one  beautiful  example  from  a 
sarcophagus  in  Fig.  88. 

With  the  corruption  of  the  church  and  decay  of  piety 
under  the  post-Constantinian  emperors  came  the  devel- 
opment of  luxury  and  an  increased  sumptuousness  of 
apparel.  The  refined  classic  taste  was  lost,  and  bar- 
baric pomp  and  splendour  were  the  only  expression  of 
opulence.  The  mosaics  in  the  vestibules  of  the  more 
ancient  basilicas,  and  an  occasional  representation  from 
the  Catacombs  of  the  period  of  their  latest  occupation, 
illustrate  the  increased  luxury  of  dress.  The  primitive 
simplicity  has  given  place  to  many-coloured  and  em- 
broidered robes.  The  hair,  often  false,  was  tortured 
into  unnatural  forms,  and  raised  in  a  towering  mass  on 
the  head,  not  unlike  certain  modern  fashionable  modes, 
and  was  frequently  artificially  dyed.  The  person  was 
bedizened  with  jewelry — pendents  in  the  ears,  pearls 
on  the  neck,  bracelets  and  a  profusion  of  rings  on  the 
arms  and  fingers.  St.  Jerome  inveighs  with  peculiar 
vehemence  against  the  attempt  to  beautify  the  com- 
plexion with  pigments.  "What  business  have  rouge 
and  paint  on  a  Christian  cheek  }  "  he  asks.  "  Who  can 
weep  foi  her  sins  when  her  tears  wash  bare  furrows  on 
her  skin }  With  what  trust  can  faces  be  lifted  to  heaven 
which  the  Maker  cannot  recognize  as  his  workman- 
ship ? "  t    The  mosaic   portrait    of  St.  Agnes  is  richly 

*  Padag.i\\,  8. 

f  Ep.  54 :   "  Polire  facifem  pnrpurisso,"  he  exclaims,  "  et  cerusa  ora 
depingere,  omare  crinem,  et  alienis  capillis  turritam  vcrticem  stru- 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


499 


adorned  with  gems,  and  even  the  earliest  examples  of 
the  Madonna  is  bedizened  in  Byzantine  style  with  a 
necklace  of  pearls.*  The  following  engraving  from 
D'Agincoiirt  illustrates  the  tasteless  drapery  and  coif- 
Yure  which  awakened  such  int^'nse  patristic  indignation. 
The  simplicity  of  the  funeral  rites  of  the  primitive 
Christians  is  indicated  by  the  character  of  the  sepul 
chral  monuments  of  the  Catacombs.  No  "storied  urn 
or  animated  bust,"  nor  costly  mausolea,  were  employed 
to  commemorate  those  who  slept  in  Christ.  A  narrow 
grave,  undistinguished  from  the  multitude  around  save 
by  the  nanje  of  the  deceased,  or  by  the  emblem  of  his 
calling,  or  symbol  of  his  faith,  and  most  frequently  not 

ere."  Cyprian  suggests  that  the  Almighty  might  not  recognize  them  at 
the  resurrection.  They  should  not  dye  their  hair  or  clothes,  as  violat- 
ing the  saying  that "  thou  canst  not  make  one  hair  white  or  black  ; "  and 
God  had  not  made  sheep  scarlet  or  purple. — De  habitti  Virginum,  14- 
16.  **  Nevertheless,"  says  Clement,  "  they  cannot  with  their  bought  and 
painted  beauty  avoid  wrinkles  or  evade  death."  Tertullian  denounces 
their  flame-coloured  heads,  "built  up  with  pads  and  rolls,  the  slough 
perhaps  of  some  guilty  wretch  now  in  hell." — De  Velendis  Virginibus, 
ii,  17.  "  One  delicate  neck,"  he  says,  *•  carries  about  it  forests  and  isl- 
ands *' — saltus  et  insula  ;  that  is,  their  price. — Ibtd.,  i,  9.  At  the  court 
of  the  Eastern  Empire,  effeminacy  and  orient-.l  luxury  still  further 
degraded  the  Christian  character.  Clement  of  Alexandria  denounces 
with  indignation  the  extravagance  and  vice  of  the  so-called  Chris- 
tian community  of  that  city.  The  wealth  that  should  have  been  de- 
voted to  the  poor  was  expended  in  gilded  litters  and  chariots,  splendid 
banquets  and  baths,  in  costly  jewelry  and  dress'  s.  Wealthy  ladies, 
instead  of  maintaining  widows  and  orphans,  wasted  their  sympathies 
on  monkeys,  peacocks,  and  Maltese  dogs. — Pa-d.,  iii,  4.  "  Riches," 
he  adds,  "  is  like  a  serpent  which  will  bite  unless  we  know  how  to 
take  it  by  the  tail." — Ibid.,  6.  He  compares  the  Alexandrian  women 
to  "  an  Egyptian  temple,  gorgeous  without,  but  enshrining  only  a  cat 
or  crocodile :  so  beneath  their  meretricious  adorning  were  concealed 
vile  and  loathsome  passions."  The  sumptuary  laws  of  the  Theodosian 
code  prohibited  the  use  of  gold  brocade  or  silken  tissue,  (x,  tit,  20  ; 
xlv,  TO.) 

*  See  Fig.  90.     .See  also  oranti  in  Fig.  82. 


It- 1 

A 


} 


500 


T/ie  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


even  by  these,  sufficed,  in  the  earlier  and  purer  days  of 
the  church,  for  the  last  resting-place  of  the  saints.     As 


Fig.  1})0.— Bellicia  fedelissima  virgo  qve  vixit  annos  zvlil,  (aio.) 
Belioia,  a  most  faithful  virgin  who  lived  eighteen  years, 

wealth  increased  and  faith  grew  cold,  more  attention  was 
given  to  the  external  expression  of  grief  or  regard  for 
the  departed ;  and  the  chambers,  at  first  rudely  hewn 
from  the    tufa,  became    ornamented  with  stucco  and 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


Sor 


frescoes,  and  lined  with  marble  slabs,  and  the  inscrip- 
tions became  more  turgid  and  artificial.  The  super- 
stitious veneration  paid  to  the  relics  of  he  saints  in 
later  days  led  to  the  adornment  of  their  sepulchres ; 
and  during  the  period  of  the  temporal  supremacy  of 
Christianity,  the  posthumous  ostentation  of  the  rich 
was  manifested  in  their  costly  sarcophagi  and  funeral 
monuments.* 

All  immoderate  grief  for  the  departed  was  regarded 
as  inconsistent  with  Christian  faith  and  hope.  "  Our 
brethren  are  not  to  be  lamented  who  are  freed  fiom  the 
world  by  the  summons  of  the  Lord,"  says  Cyprian,  "  for 
we  know  they  are  not  lost,  but  sent  before  us.  We  may 
not  wear  the  black  robes  of  mourning  while  they  are  al- 
ready clothed  with  the  white  raiment  of  joy,  Nor  may 
we  grieve  for  those  as  lost  whom  we  know  to  be  living 
with  God."  t  Nay,  the  day  of  their  death  was  celebrated 
as  their  Naialitia,  or  their  true  birthday — their  entrance 
into  the  undying  life  of  heaven.  The  primitive  believ- 
ers were  not,  however,  insensible  to  natural  affection,  as 
many  of  the  inscriptions  already  given  fully  prove ;  but 
they  were  sustained  by  a  lofty  hope  and  serene  confi- 
dence in  God. 

The  early  Christian  burial  rites  were  entirely  differ- 
ent from  the  pomp  and  pageantry  of  grief  which  char- 
acterized pagan  funerals.  When  the  spirit  had  departed, 
the  body  was  washed  with  water  and  robed  for  the  grave 
in  spotless  white,  to  represent,  Chrysostom  suggests,  the 
soul's  putting  on  the  garment  of  incorr.iption.     In  later 

*  This  lapidary  extravagance  was  censured,  as  seeming  to  imply 
that  the  sepulchres  were  the  receptacles  of  the  souls  rather  than  of 
the  bodies. — Ambr.,  De  Bono  Mortis. 

f  Cypr.,  De  Mortal.,  20.  See  also  Augustine's  pathetic  account  of 
the  death  of  his  mother,  Monica — Premebam  oculos  ejus  et  conflue- 
bat  in  prsecordia  mcestitudo  ingens,  e^c. — Con/.,  ix,  12. 


502 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


times  costly  robes  of  silk  and  cloth  of  gold  were  employed 
for  the  burial  of  the  wealthy,  against  which  practice  Je- 
rome strongly  inveighs.  "  Why  does  not  your  ambition 
cease,"  he  exclaims,  "in  the  midst  oi  mourning  and 
tears  ?  Cannot  the  bodies  of  the  rich  return  to  dust  oth- 
erwise than  in  silk  ?  "  *  The  body  was  also  frequently 
embalmed,  or  at  least  plentifully  enswathed  with  myrrh 
and  aromatic  spices,  after  the  manner  of  the  burial  of 
Our  Lord.  This  was  especially  necessary  in  the  Cata- 
combs on  account  of  the  frequent  proximity  of  the  liv- 
ing to  the  dead.  We  find  frequent  allusions  to  this 
practice  in  the  Fathers.f  It  was  a  pagan  reproach  that 
the  Christians  bought  no  odours  for  their  persons  nor 
incense  for  the  gods. J  "  It  is  true,"  says  Tertullian, 
"but  the  Arabs  and  Sabeans  well  know  that  we  con- 
sume more  of  these  costly  wares  for  our  dead  than  the 
heathen  do  for  the  gods."§ 

The  nearest  relatives  or  pious  friends  bore  the  corpse  to 
the  grave,  and  committed  it  as  the  seed  of  immortality  to 
thegenial  bosom  of  the  earth,  often  strewing  the  body  with 
flowers,  in  beautiful  symbolism  of  the  resurrection  to  the 

*  Father  March!  found,  along  with  some  charred  bones,  sup]x>sed 
to  be  relics  of  St.  Hyacinth,  some  threads  of  gold  tissue,  as  if  the 
martyr's  remains  had  been  wrapped  in  this  costly  material.  He  also 
perceived  an  aromatic  odour  on  opening  some  graves.  Occasionally 
large  lumps  of  lime  have  been  found  bearing  the  marks  of  the  linen 
in  which  they  were  wrapped.  Its  caustic  nature  would  hasten  the 
destruction  of  animal  tissue. 

f  An  cadavera  divitum  nisi  in  serico  putrescere  nesciunt. —  Vit. 
Pauli.  Arringhi  has  a  chapter  on  the  subject,  (lib.  i,  c.  23,)  Cadav- 
era unguentis  et  aromatibus  condiuntur. 

\  Non  corpus  odoril:  '^.onestatis. — Ap.,  Minuc,  p.  35.  Jerome 
urges  the  substitution  of  the  balsam  of  alms-deeds  and  charity. 

§  Thura  plane  non  emimus,  etc. — Apol.,  42.  "You  expect  your 
women  will  bury  your  body  with  ointments  and  spices,"  said  the 
heathen  judge  to  the  martyr  Tarachus  j  to  prevent  which  he  con- 
demned hm  to  be  burned. 


1  fs 


Social  and  Domestic  Relations. 


503 


fadeless  summer  of  the  skies.*  In  times  of  persecution 
the  privilege  would  often  be  purchased  with  money  of 
gathering  the  martyrs'  mangled  remains,  and  bearing 
them  by  stealth, along  the  pagan  "Street  of  Tombs,"  to 
the  silent  community  of  the  Christian  dead.f  Instead  of 
employing  the  pagan  nania,  or  funeral  dirge,  and  prafica^ 
or  hireling  mourners,  theChristiansaccompanied  thedead 
to  their  repose  with  psalms  and  hymns,J  chanting  such 
versicles  as,  "  Return  to  thy  rest,  O  my  soul ;  "  "  I  will  fear 
no  evil,  for  thou  art  with  me;"  "Blessed  are  the  dead 
that  die  in  the  Lord."  §  Frequently,  as  will  be  hereafter 
seen,  the  agape  or  eucharist  was  celebr<ited  at  the  grave. 

The  heathen  buried  their  dead  by  night  on  account 
of  the  defilement  the  very  sight  of  a  funeral  was  sup- 
posed to  cause.  The  Christians  repudiated  this  idola- 
trous notion,  and,  except  when  prevented  during  times 
of  persecution,  buried  openly  by  day,  that  the  living 
might  be  reminded  of  their  mortrlity  and  led  to  pre- 
pare for  death. 

We  have  thus  seen  the  immense  superiority,  in  all  the 


li 


*  In  later  times  similar  rites  M'ere  paid  to  the  tomb.  "  We  >vill 
adorn  the  hidden  bones,"  sings  Prudentius,  "  with  violets  and  man/  a 
bough ;  and  on  the  epitaphs  and  the  cold  stones  we  will  sprinkle 
liquid  odours," — Cathem.,  x. 

f  See  Euseb.,  H.  E.,  vii,  16  and  22.  They  were  often  denied  the 
privilege. — IbiJ.,  v,  I.  Eutychianus,  a  Roman  Christian,  is  said  to 
have  buried  three  hundred  and  forty-two  martyrs  with  his  own  hands. 

\  ♦dAAovrff  irpofffiTreTt:  avrov^,  k.  t.  ?.. — Constit.  Apos.,  vi,  30. 
Hymnos  et  Psalmos  decantans,  etc. — Hieron.,  Vit.  Pauli. 

§  Chrys.,  Horn.,  4,  in  Hebr.  The  following  inscription  indicates 
that  the  corpse  was  sometimes  brought  to  the  Catacombs  some  time 
before  burial ;  probably  immediately  after  death,  as  in  Italy  it  is  now 
taken  to  the  church,  Pecora  dulcis  anima  benit  in  cimitero  Martu- 
rorum,  vii,  iiius  yul.  Dp.  Postera  die — "  Pecora,  a  sweet  soul,  came 
(was  brought)  to  the  cemetery  of  the  martyrs  on  the  9th  of  July  ;  was 
buried  the  following  day." 


I 

II 


504 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


elements  of  true  dignity  and  excellence,  of  primitive 
Christianity  to  the  corrupt  civilization  by  which  it  was 
surrounded.  It  ennobled  the  character  and  purified 
the  morals  of  mankind.  It  raised  society  from  the  in- 
effable slough  into  which  it  had  fallen,  imparted  ten- 
derness and  fidelity  to  the  domestic  relations  of  life, 
and  enshrined  marriage  in  a  sanctity  before  unknown. 
Notwithstanding  the  corruptions  by  which  it  became 
infected  in  the  days  of  its  power  and  pride,  even  the 
worst  form  of  Christianity  was  infinitely  preferable  to  the 
abominations  of  paganism.  It  gave  a  sacredness  previ- 
ously unconceived  to  human  life  It  averted  the  sword 
from  the  throat  of  the  gladiator,  and,  plucking  helpless 
infancy  from  exposure  to  untimely  death,  nourished  it 
in  Christian  homes.  It  threw  the  aegis  of  its  protectic  a 
over  the  slave  and  the  oppressed,  raising  them  from  the 
condition  of  beasts  to  the  dignity  of  men  and  the  fel- 
lowship of  saints.  With  an  unwearied  and  passionate 
charity  it  yearned  over  the  suffering  and  sorrowing 
every-where,  and  created  a  vast  and  comprehensive  or- 
ganization for  their  relief,  of  which  the  world  had  before 
no  example  and  had  formed  no  conception.  It  was  a 
holy  Vestal,  ministering  at  the  altar  of  humanity,  wit- 
nessing ever  of  the  Divine,  and  keeping  the  sacred  fire 
burning,  not  for  Rome,  but  for  the  world.  Its  winsome 
gladness  and  purity,  in  an  era  of  unspeakable  pollution 
and  sadness,  revived  the  sinking  heart  of  mankind,  and 
made  possible  a  Golden  Age  in  the  futifre  transcending 
far  that  which  poets  pictured  in  the  past.  It  blotted 
out  cruel  laws,  like  those  of  Draco  written  in  blood,* 

♦  The  Christian  emperors  prohibited  the  branding  of  felons  on  the 
forehead  on  the  ground  "  that  the  human  countenance,  formed  after 
the  image  of  heavenly  beauty,  should  not  be  defaced."  They  also 
exempted  widows  and  orphans  from  taxation,  and  contributed  to  their 
support. 


Social  and  Domestic  Rtlatious. 


503 


dnd  led  back  Justirc,  long  banished,  to  the  judgment 
seat.  It  am  liorated  the  rigours  of  the  penal  code,  and, 
as  experience  has  shown,  lessened  the  amount  of  crime. 
It  created  an  art  purer  and  loftier  than  that  of  pagan- 
ism; and  a  literature  rivaling  in  elegance  of  form,  and 
surpassing  in  nobleness  of  spirit,  the  sublimest  produc- 
tions of  the  classic  muse.  Instead  of  the  sensual  con- 
ceptions of  heathenism,  polluting  the  soul,  it  supplied 
images  of  purity,  tenderness,  and  pathos,  which  fasci- 
nated the  imagination  and  hallowed  the  heart.  It 
taught  the  sanctity  of  suffering  and  of  weakness,  and 
the  supreme  majesty  of  gentleness  and  ruth. 


5o6 


The  Catacombs  of  Romt, 


! 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE     MINISTRY,     RITES,     AND     INSTITUTIONS    OF    THE 

PRIMITIVE  CHURCH. 

We  gain  from  the  testimony  of  the  Catacombs  most 
important  information  as  to  the  organization  of  the 
church  during  the  early  Christian  centuries.  We  see 
on  every  side  records  of  an  efficient  ministry  of  differ- 
ent grades  and  dignities,  yet  wholly  unlike  that  vast 
hierarchical  system  which  claims  to  be  its  lineal  de- 
scendant. We  discern  also  evidences  of  a  well-ordered 
administration  of  the  sacraments  and  ordinances  of  re- 
ligion, simple  and  unadorned,  yet  instinct  with  spiritual 
life  and  power,  compared  with  which  the  gorgeous  rit- 
ual and  lifeless  pomp  of  Romanism  are  more  akin,  in  out- 
ward form  at  least,  to  the  pagan  homage  of  the  Bona 
Dea,  or  to  the  mysteries  of  Mithras,  than  to  Christian 
worship.  So  complete  is  this  testimony  as  to  the  min- 
istry and  rites  of  the  primitive  church,  that  Dr.  North- 
cote  remarks  that,  "even  if  all  the  writings  of  the 
Fathers  had  altogether  perished,  we  might  almost  recon- 
struct the  whole  fabric  of  the  ecclesiastical  polity  from 
the  scattered  notices  of  these  sepulchral  inscriptions."* 

The  somewhat  complex  ecclesiastical  organization 
which  we  discover  was  probably  a  gradual  development 
with  the  growth  of  the  church,  and  not  in  its  entirety 
the  creation  of  the  earliest  times ;  the  inscriptions  re- 
ferring to  the  subject,  it  must  be  remembered,  being  all 

*  Northcoti^s  Catacombs,  p.  140. 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institution^. 


507 


or  chiefly  of  post-Constantinian  origin.  The  earlier  books 
of  the  Apostolical  Constitutions,  which  are  probably 
of  the  second  century,  say  almost  nothing  about  the 
different  grades  of  the  ministry  ;  but  in  the  later  ones, 
probably  of  the  fifth  century,  a  full  blown  sacerdotalism 
appears.  Cornelius,  bishop  of  Rome  in  the  middle  of 
the  third  century,  records  the  existence  of  a  graduated 
clergy  like  that  indicated  in  the  inscriptions  of  the  Cata- 
combs,* whose  gradations  Clen^ent  of  Alexandria  com- 
pares to  the  different  ranks  of  the  hierarchy  of  heaven. f 
The  highest  ofifice  in  the  church  of  the  Catacombs 
was  that  of  the  bishop — the  chief  pastor  \  or  overseer  of 
the  flock  of  C'hrist.  But  this  position  was  rather  a  pre- 
eminence of  toil  and  peril  than  of  dignity  and  honour. 
The  supreme  head  of  the  Roman  hierarchy,  who  lays 
claim  to  the  attributes  of  deity  himself,  and  sits  in  the 
seat  of  God  as  his  vicegerent  and  infallible  representa- 
tive on  earth,  finds  no  precedent  for  his  lofty  assump- 
tions in  his  humble  predecessors  of  the  primitive  ages. 
These  were  in  reality  what  he  is  only  in  name — seri'i 
servorum  Dei.  Even  the  title  of  bishop  occurred  but 
seldom.  Neither  Bosio,  Fabretti,  Boldetti,  nor  any  other 
of  the  early  explorers  of  the  Catacombs,  found  a  single 
example  of  it.  The  tomb  of  the  first  Roman  bishop 
bore  simply  the  name  linvs.     In  the  so-called  "  papal 

♦  '''useb..  Hist.  EccUs.,  vi,  43.  The  hierarchical  subdivisions  in 
the  Greek  church  are  vastly  more  elaborate.  Thus  we  have  the  pa- 
triarch, metropolitan,  archbishop,  bishop,  proto-presbyter,  super-dean, 
dean,  presbyter,  proto-deacon,  deacon,  sub-deacon,  and  common 
priest,  besides  a  host  of  inferior  grades. 

f  Strom.,  vi,  13.  "  The  succession  of  the  early  Roman  bishops,"  says 
Stillingfleet,  "  is  as  muddy  as  the  Tiber  itself." — Irenicum,  ii,  7.  It 
is  an  historical  riddle  of  which  it  is  difficult  or  impossible  to  And  the 
solution. 

X  Eusebius  gives  this  very  title,  noi/i^v,  to  Cyprian,  (vii,  3.)  They 
were  also  called  npoethoi,  irpoearui,  attd  pnesit/trs,  or  presidents. 


fl 


r    I 


508 


T/ie  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


;  I' 

a 


1  '1 


\   ! 


H-R 


crypt "  the  title   first   appears,    but  in  the  contracted 

form,  Eni  and  EITIC,  and  without  any  symbol  of  superior 

dignity  whatever.     The  name  of  a  bishop  was  first  made 

a  note  of  time  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  century, 

as  in  the  epigraphic  formulae  Sub  Liberia  Episcopo — Sub 

Damaso  Episcopo— Dnrmg   the  episcopate  of  Liberius, 

(A.  D.  350-366,)  of  Damasus,   (A.  D.  366-384.)     But 

this  distinction  was  also  conferred  on  other  bishops  than 

those  of  Rome.     Thus,  in  the  year  A.  D.  397,  we  find 

the  expression  Pascasio  Episcopo.     Now,  as  there  was 

no  Roman  bishop  of  that  name,  Pascasius  must  have 

presided  over  some  of  the  adjacent  sees,  of  which  we 

know  that  there  were  many  independent  of  Rome.* 

*  Hippolytus,  bishop  of  Portus,  only  fifteen  miles  from  Rome,  and 
a  saint  of  the  Roman  calendar,  strongly  opposed  both  Zephyrinus 
and  Callixtus,  bishops  of  Rome.     In  the  fifth  century  Milan  took  pre- 
cedence ot  ixome,  and  many  other  places  were  of  equal  dignUy.    The 
episcopal  office  was  very  different  from  what  is  now  implied  by  the 
name,  and  its  functions  varied  little  from  those  of  the  presbyter,  save 
in  the  general  oversight  of  a  comparatively  limited  diocese.     Thus  in 
Northern  Africa  alone  were  four  hundred  and  sixty-six  bishops,  be- 
side sixty-six  vacant  sees.     Clement,  bishop  of  Rome,  {Ep.  ad  Cor., 
74,)  Justin  Martyr,  and  other  early  writers,  seem  to  imply  that  the 
terms  bishop  and  presbyter  were  at  first  permutable.     Cyprian,  bishop 
of  Carthage,  addresses  his  clei^  as  his  co-presbyters — compreshyteros. 
Jerome,  jealous  for   his  order,  asserts  the  original  identity  of  the 
offices  {}dem  est  presbyter  qui  et  episcopus)  and  the  gradual  develop- 
ment of  episcopal  dignity,  from  custom  rather  than  from  primitive  ap- 
pointment, {Comment,  in  Titttm.)     Chrysostom  asserts  the  original 
convertibility  of  the  titles  of  bishop  and  presbyter — ol  TrpeajSvTepoi  to 
TraAc'cw  kKaMvvro  iiTiaKOTrot,Kai  ol  kirtoKonoi  Trpea^vrepoi. — Homil.  i, 
in  Phil.,  I.     Lord  King  compares  the  two  to  the  offices  of  rector 
and  curate,  {.Prim.  Ch.,  c.4,)but  Bingham's  High  Church  notions  led 
him  to  magnify  the  essential  difference  between  the  two,  {Orig.  Eccl., 
ii,  3.)    The  bishops  were  elected  by  the  presbyters  and  the  laity  joint- 
ly.    Eusebius  states  that  Fabian  was  inaicated  for  the  office  by  the 
divine  portent  of  a  dove  descending  upon  him,  {If.  E.,  vi,  29.)     They 
generally  attained  this  dignity  not  per  saltum,  but  having  passed 
through  the  inferior  grades.     Cyprian,  however,  was  but  a  neophyte, 


Primitive  Rites  and  lustitutious. 


509 


The  yfOT^papa,  or  pope,  does  not  occur  in  the  Cata- 
combs till  at  least  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  century. 
It  appears  first  spelled  pappas,  and  applied  to  Damasus, 
in  the  margin  of  an  inscription  by  that  bishop,  in  honour 
of  Eusebius.*  But  De  Rossi  admits  that  this  is  a  badly 
executed  reproduction,  of  the  sixth  or  seventh  century, 
of  a  previous  inscription ;  so  this  title  may  very  well 
belong  to  that  late  period.  This  is  all  the  more  prob- 
able 4"rom  the  phraseology  of  the  very  first  line  of  this 
inscription  :  damasvs  episcopvs  fecit  evsebio  episcopo 
ET  MARTVRi — "  Damasus,  bishop,  (not  pope,)  to  Euse- 
bius, bishop  and  martyr."  Hilary  (461-467)  calls  him- 
self bishop  and  servant  of  Christ — "  Episcopus  et  famu- 
lus Christiy  In  an  epitaph  of  A.  D.  523,  Hormisdas  is 
called  merely  dominvs  papa — that  is,  "  honoured  fa- 
ther," or  "  pope,"  which  is  probably  the  first  application 
of  this  phrase  in  Christian  epigraphy.  In  another,  of 
date  A.  D.  563,  John  III.  is  designated  as  the  "  most 
blessed  father  John  " — Beatissimus  papa  Joannes.  \ 

But  even  this  title,  invested  with  such  awful  dignity 
and  supreme  authority  in  later  days,  was  at  first  only  an 
expression  of  familiar  and  affectionate  respect,  not  pe- 
culiar to  the  bishop  of  Rome,  nor  indeed  first  applied 
to   him.     Its   earliest   use  is  attributed  to   Dionysius, 


? 


i.  ul 


fH'^l 


«>«' 


Eusebius  a  catechumen,  and  Ambrose  a  layman,  when  appointed  to 
the  office  of  bishop.  In  the  course  of  time,  in  the  East  the  emper- 
ors, in  the  West  the  kings,  usurped  the  power  of  appointment,  a 
relic  of  which  u  seen  in  the  royal  conge  d'elire  in  Great  Britain,  so 
strongly  satirized  by  Carlyle,  (Latter-day  Pamphlets.) 

*  See  ante,  p.  95. 

f  We  have  already  seen  that  the  inscription  of  date  A.  D.  392,  re- 
garded as  the  epitaph  of  a  "  most  holy  Pope  Felix,"  was  in  reality 
that  of  a  foster-father.  See  ante,  p.  471.  The  phrase  *'  Apostolic 
See,"  now  restricted  to  Rome,  was  originally  applied  to  every  bish- 
op's seat. — Bingham,  ii,  2,  §  3. 


1  <| 


•HI 
Pi 
5:'  I 


'i 


5IO 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


Ej  U 


bishop  of  Alexandria,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  third  cen- 
tury.* The  Roman  clergy  address  the  bishop  of  Car- 
thage in  their  letters  as  "the  blessed  pope  Cyprian." f 
Tertullian  applies  the  name  to  any  Christian  bishop.  J 
Jerome  addresses  Augustine,  bishop  of  the  little  Afri- 
can diocese  of  Hippo,  as  the  Beatissimus  papa  Augus- 
tinus^  §  and  applies  the  same  phrase  to  the  superior  of 
a  monastery.  || 

The  rapid  extension  of  Christianity  in  the  metropolis 
of  the  empire  enhanced  the  influence  and  dignity  of 
the  Roman  bishops.lf  With  the  increase  of  wealth  and 
decay  of  piety  these  dignitaries  became  ambitious  and 
worldly,  arrogant  and  aspiring,  and  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  that  vast  system  of  spiritual  despotism  which 
for  centuries  crushed  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of 
Europe.  Nevertheless,  as  iate  as  the  end  of  the  sixth 
century,  Gregory  the  Great,  although  zealous  for  the 
episcopal  dignity,  resents  the  claim  of  John  of  Constan- 

*  He  speaks  of  his  predecessor  in  office  as  "  our  father,  (Trdn-a,)  the 
blessed  Hereelas." — Eii.,  //.  E.,  vii,  7.  In  like  manner  an  epitaph 
of  in  African  bishop,  of  date  A.  D.  475,  designates  him  "  our  father 
of  holy  memory  " — Sancta  memoritv  pater  noster. 

\  Ep.  8.     Cler.  Rom.  ad  Cler.  Carth. 

X  De  Pudicit.,  c.  13. 

§  Ep.  17,  18,  30,  etc. 

II  The  synonymous  title  of  abbot  is  still  used  in  this  sense.  It  was 
applied  to  the  hermit  monks  of  the  Orkneys  and  Iceland,  and  gave 
the  name  Papa  Strona  and  Papa  Westra  to  islands  of  the  Orkney 
group. 

T[  Optatus  says  there  were  forty  churches  in  Rome  in  the  third 
century.  Ammianus  describes  the  almost  regal  pomp  of  the  bishops 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  century,  and  records  the  sanguinary 
struggle  for  the  episcopal  dignity  between  Damasus  and  Ursicinus. 
The  streets  were  strewn  with  the  slain,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  corpses  polluted  the  sacred  precincts  of  a  Christian  basilica. 
The  primitive  ciairch  stigmatized  simony  as  ;^f/ot(TrfjU7rop«av,  or  "  sell 
irg  Christ." 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions. 


Sir 


tinople  to  the  title  of  oecumenical  bishop  in  the  strik- 
ing words  :  "  This  I  declare  with  confidence,  that  whoso 
designates  himself  universal  priest,  or,  in  the  pride  of 
his  heart,  consents  to  be  so  named,  he  is  the  forerunner 
of  Antichrist."*  His  successors  of  Rome  have  not 
shrunk  from  this  malediction,  but,  in  assumption  of  this 
universal  supremacy,  have  placed  their  feet  on  the  neck 
of  kings,  parcelled  out  empires,  and  conferred  crowns 
at  their  pleasure,  f 

The  next  rank  in  ecclesiastical  dignity  was  that  of  the 
Presbyters.J    There  was  not  that  distinction  in  the  prim- 

♦  Ego  autem  fidenter  dico  quia  quisque  se  universalem  sacerdotem 
vocat,  vel  vocari  desiderat,  in  elatione  su4  Antichrisitum  praecurrit. — 
Greg.  Max.,  Epis.  vii,  7-33. 

f  Gregory  III.  (731-741)  styles  himself  '•  the  most  holy  and  blessed 
Apostolic  Pope " — Sanctissimus  ac  Beatissimus  Apostolicus  Papa. 
Bonifare  VIII.  adopted  the  triple-crowned  tiara,  to  indicate  the 
Pope's  dominion  over  heaven,  earth,  and  hell. 

Dante  represents  the  pope  as  an  all-powerful  griffin,  symbolical  of 
his  spiritual  and  temporal  functions,  drawing  the  triumphal  car  of  the 
church. — Purzatorio,  Can.  xxix.  Yet  in  a  fresco  of  the  seventh  or 
eighth  century,  of  Cornelius,  bishop  of  Rome,  he  is  in  no  way  distin- 
guished by  costume,  insignia,  or  title  from  Cyprian,  bishop  of  Car- 
thage, who  stands  beside  him. 

\  The  name  was  not  always  indicative  of  age,  but  of  office,  like  the 
Jewish  Q".3pt  or  elders,  the  Latin  senatores,  and  the  Saxon  alder- 
men. ^ 

Rheinwal,  Geisler,  Neander,  and  other  eminent  German  scholars, 
agree  that  the  term  bishop  originally  was  merely  the  official  title  of 
the  presbyter  who  was  chosen  to  nile  or  oversee  the  church  ;  and  that 
the  latter  sat  in  consistory  with  the  bishop,  forming  the  eeclesiastical 
senate,  in  which  the  bishop  was  simply  the  presiding  officer — primus 
inter  pares. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  word  hpevc,  "  priest,"  that  is,  one  who 
offers  sacrifice,  is  nowhere  applied  to  any  ecclesiastical  rank  in  the 
Catacombs,  or  in  the  writings  of  the  primitive  Fathers.  It  has  been 
left  for  Romanism,  and  a  Romanizing  sacerdotalism,  to  apply  to  the 
Christian  minister  this  phrase,  so  opposed  to  the  genius  of  the  New 
Testament. 


4^ 


"i  '<  \i 


i  •■  If 

Si 


i^ 


512 


The  Catacomb;^  of  Rome. 


itive  ages  between  their  office  and  that  of  the  bishops 
that  afterward  arose.  Bishop  Pearson  represents  their 
power  and  dignity  as  greater  the  nearer  we  ascend  to 
the  apostolic  times.  Their  principal  functions  were  the 
administration,  in  association  with  the  bishops,  of  the 
sacraments,  the  enforcement  of  discipline,  the  preach- 
ing of  the  word,  and  the  pastorate  of  the  church.  Their 
epitaphs  in  the  Catacombs  and  basilicas  are  frequently 
very  brief,  as  the  following:  locvs  geronti  presb — 
"  The  place  of  Gerontus,  a  presbyter ;  "  posnvs  est  hic 
LEONTivs  PRESBiTER  (j/V) — "  Here  is  placed  Leontius,  a 
presbyter."  Sometimes  the  title  is  expressed  in  a  con- 
tracted form,  thus :  hic  qviescit  romanvs  pbb.  qvi 
SEDIT  PBB  •  ANN  •  XXVIII  •  M  •  X. — "  Here  reposes  Roman- 
us,  a  presbyter,  who  sat  a  presbyter  twenty-eight  years 
ten  months."*  Boldetti  gives  the  epitaph  of  acativs 
PASTOR,  who  was  probably  a  presbyter,  his  title  express- 
ing his  pastoral  office.  The  following,  of  date  A.  D.  471, 
which  is  more  elaborate  than  usual,  is  of  some  histori- 
cal interest : f 

PRESBYTER  HIC  POSITVS  FELIX  IN  PACE  QVIESCIT 
CVIVS  PVRA  FIDES   PROBITAS  VIGILANTIA  SCALERS 
PONTIFICVM  CLARO  PLACVIT  SIC  NOTA  LEONI 
POST  LABSVM  VT  REFARANS  VENEKANDI  CVLMINA  PAVLI 
HVIC  OPERIS  TANTI  RENOVANDAM  CREDERET  AVLAM. 

"  Felix,  the  presbyter,  placed  here,  reposes  in  peace,  whose  pure 
faith,  probity,  sagacious  vigilance,  when  known,  so  pleased  the  illus- 

*  The  letters  Pbb,^  according  tr  De  Rossi,  stand  iox  Presbyter  bent' 
dictus. 

\  Felix  was  probably  presbyter  of  the  basilica  of  St.  Paul,  founded 
by  Constantine  A.  D.  324,  rebuilt  by  Theodosius  and  Honorius, 
A.  D.  388-395,  restored  by  Leo  I.,  A.  D.  440,  and  again  by  the  pres- 
ent Pope,  in  its  ancient  dimensions,  (four  hundred  and  eleven  feet 
by  two  hundred  and  seventy-nine.)  It  is  one  of  the  noblest  basilicas 
of  Rome. 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions. 


513 


trious  Leo  of  the  pontiffs,*  that,  repairing  the  roof  of  the  venerable 
St.  Paul's  after  its  fall,  he  trusted  to  him  the  renewal  of  the  hall  of  so 
great  a  work. 

It  appears  that  sometimes  the  primitive  presbyters 
engaged  in  secular  callings.  Thus,  an  inscription  from 
the  Catacomb  of  Callixtus  reads,  AlCNTClOC  nPECBT- 
TEPOC  lATPOC — "  Dionysius,  presbyter  and  physician." 
Another,  of  date  A.  D.  533,  commemorates  a  deacon, 
who  was  also,  perhaps  before  ordination,  a  senator  and 
soldier.  One  fcund  in  Galatia  mentions  eEOAQPOC 
nPECBYTEPOC  KA'  '  TTPOKOnoc — "  Theodorus,  a  pres- 
b  ftr  and  silversm.tn."  Hyacinthus,  a  Roman  presbyter 
of  the  third  century,  was  also  an  officer  of  the  imperial 
household.  TertuUian  complains  that  some  engaged  in 
idolatrous  trades  were  promoted  to  ecclesiastical  offi- 
ces.f  Eusebius  mentions  a  presbyter  of  Antioch  who 
was  head-master  of  one  of  the  principal  schools  of  the 
city.J  Sozomen  tells  of  bishops  Zeno  and  Spiridion, 
who  continue^,  the  one  to  weave  linen,  the  other  to 
keep  sheep,  after  elevation  to  the  episcopal  office. §  In- 
deed, the  fourth  council  of  Carthage  (A.  D.  398)  de- 
creed that  the  clergy  might  devote  their  leisure  to  trade 
or  husbandry,  that  the  church  might  have  greater  re- 
sources for  charity.  \ 


*%\ 


'  ■'■■: 


J. li- 


st.  :A 

1 


;ii 


h 


*  According  to  Bingham,  Pontifex  maximus  was  a  title  common 
to  all  bishops  in  primitive  times. — Orig.  EccL,  ii,  §  6. 

There  is  here  possibly  a  paronomasia  on  the  word  "  Leo,"  lion  of 
the  pontiffs.  There  were  sometimes  several  presbyters  attached  to 
one  church.    See  De  Rossi,  Inscr.  Christ.,  No.  975. 

\  Adleguntur  in  ordinem  ecclesiasticum  artifices  idolorum. — De 
Idol.,  vii. 

\  Hist.  Eccles.,  c.  vii,  29.  §  Sozomen,  i,  27,  and  vii,  28. 

y  Clericus  quantumlibet  verbo  Dei  eruditus,  artificio  victum  quae- 
rat. — Cone.  Carth.,  4,  can.  51.  The  example  of  Paul,  the  tentmaker, 
who,  though  asserting  the  right  of  the  ministry  to  a  support,  yet 
"  wrought  with  labour  aud  travail  night  and  day,"  that  he  might  not 

83 


l<i<M 


V"- 


514 


TAe  Catacombs  of  Xome. 


The  next  grade  in  ecclesiastical  rank  was  that  oi  the 
deacons.  They  acted  generally  as  assistants  of  the 
bishops  and  presbyters,  especially  in  the  distribution  of 
the  chanties  of  the  church.*  They  also  took  part  in  the 
administration  of  the  eucharist,  but  not  in  its  consecra- 
tion. Before  the  appointment  of  lectors  they  read,  and 
occasionally  expounded,  the  Scriptures  to  the  congrega- 
tion, like  the  modern  lay  preachers.  They  also  acted  as 
instructors  or  catechists  of  the  catechumens  of  the 
church.  They  are  frequently  designated  Leviice^  \  from 
the  fancied  analogy  of  their  functions  tp  those  of  the 
Levitical  order  among  the  Jews.  In  the  church  at  Rome 
there  were  only  seven  deacons,  in  accordance  with  the 
number  originally  appointed  in  the  church  at  Jerusa- 
lem ;  but  in  other  cities  the  number  was  not  thus  lim- 
ited.J  Of  inferior  dignity  were  the  vnodiaKovot,  or  sub- 
deacons,  who  assisted  the  deacons  in  the  discharge  of 
their  lower  functions,  as  the  care  of  the  sacramental 
vessels,  and  the  like. 

Several  epitaphs  of  both  these  classes  have  been 
found  among  the  early  Christian  inscriptions.  They  are 
generally  very  brief,  as  the  following :  ivl  diaconvs — 

be  chargeable  to  the  church,  will  occur  to  the  reader.  Chrysostoni, 
speaking  of  the  rural  bishop>s  of  Antioch,  says:  "These  men  you  may 
see  sometimes  yoking  the  oxen  and  driving  the  plough,  and  again 
ascending  the  pulpit  and  cultivating  the  souls  under  their  care ;  now 
uprooting  the  thorns  from  the  earth  with  a  hook,  and  now  purging 
out  the  sins  of  the  soul  by  the  word." — //<?///.  ad  Pop.  Antioch.,  xik. 
"  How  glorious  to  see  the  gray-haired  pastor  approach,  like  Abraham, 
his  loins  girt,  digging  the  ground  and  working  with  his  own  hands." 
— Horn  in  Act.,  xviii. 

♦A  similar  office  obtained  in  the  Jewish  synagogue,  the  t3'^03"iD 

f  This  was  especially  the  case  in  verse,  as  the  word  diaconns  was 
nnsaitable  for  hexameters. 

X  In  Constantinople  there  were  more  than  one  hundred  deacons,  and 
more  than  ninety  sub-deacons. — Justin.,  Nov.,  iii,  i. 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions. 


5«5 


"  Julius,  the  deacon;  "  deps  •  felix  •  diac — "  Felix,  the 
deacon,  buried  (Mar.  ii,  A.  D.  435);"  locvs  exvpe- 
RANTI  DiACON — "The  placc  of  Exuperantus,  the  dea- 
con." Beneath  the  church  of  Sts.  Cosmo  and  Damien 
was  found  the  following :  hic  reqviescit  scvs  habvdt- 
DANTivs  DIAC  ET  MARTYR — "  Here  repcses  holy  Abun- 
dantius,  deacon  and  martyr."* 

The  following  are  characteristic  epitaphs  of  sub-dea- 
cons:   HIC   QVIESCIT    APPIANVS   SVBDIACONVS  QVI  VIXIT 

ANNVS  XXXII  DIES  xxviiii — "  Here  rests  Appianus,  a  sub- 
deacon,  who  lived  thirty-two  years,  twenty-nine  days ;  ** 

LOCVS  MARCELLI  SVBD  •  REG  •  SEXTAE  CONCESSVM  (j/V)  SIRI 
ET  POSTERIS  EIVS  A  BEATISSIMO  PAPA  lOANNE  QVI  VIXIT 

ANN*  PLM  •  Lxviii — " The  place  of  Marcellus,  a  sub-dea- 
con of  the  sixth  district,!  conceded  to  him  and  his  pos- 
terity by  the  most  blessed  Father  John,t  who  lived 
sixty-eight  years,  more  or  less."  (A.  D.  564.) 

The  first  rank  of  the  inferior  officers  of  the  church 
was  that  of  the  lectors  or  readers.  It  was  their  duty 
to  read  in  the  congregations  the  appointed  lessons  from 
the  Holy  Scriptures. §  The  office  was  held  in  peculiar 
honour,  young  men  of  noble  family,  especially,  aspiring 
to  its  dignity.  Thus  the  Emperor  Julian,  in  his  youth, 
was  a  reader  of   the  church  at  Nicomedia,  as  was  also 


*  This  was  probably  a  memorial  of  a  later  period  than  the  times 
of  persecution.  The  epithet  sanctus  was  not  applied  till  compara- 
tively late.  The  office  of  deacon,  however,  was  particularly  obnox- 
ious to  persecuting  greed.  Witness  the  martyrdom  of  Lawrence  the 
deacon,  antea. 

f  Rome  was  divided  into  seven  ecclesiastical  districts  correspond- 
ing to  its  seven  deacons. 

\  John  III.,  bishop  of  Rome. 

§  They  are  mentioned  by  TertuUian  {De  Prcesaip.,  c.  41)  and 
Cyprian,  (Ep.,  24,  33,)  and  by  many  later  writers.  The  office  was 
possibly  derived  from  the  Synagogue. 


1*1 


I 


S«6 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


his  brother  Gallus.*  Candidates  for  the  office  were  or- 
dained by  the  ceremony  of  delivering  the  Gospels  into 
their  hands.  According  to  one  of  the  Novels  of  Jus- 
tinian,! they  were  required  to  be  not  less  than  eighteen 
years  of  age,  but  examples  occur  of  their  appointment 
as  early  as  seven  or  eight  years  old, J  Probably  the  lat- 
ter were  dedicated  by  their  parents,  like  Samuel,  to  the 
service  of  God  from  their  infancy,§  and  graduated 
through  the  inferior  offices  to  those  of  greater  dignity 
and  influence.  In  the  Western  church  they  soon  ceased 
as  a  distinct  rank,  but  they  lingered  in  the  conventual 
orders  till  a  comparatively  late  period. 

The  following  are  epitaphs   of  lectors  from  the  Cata- 
combs and  basilicas :  eq  heraclivs  qvi  fvit  in  saecv- 

LVM  ANN  •  XVIIII  •  M  ■  VII  •  D  •  XX  •  LECTOR  R  •  SEC  •  FE- 
CERVNT  •  SIBI  ET  FILIO  SVO  BENEMERENTI  •  INP "  Equi- 

tius  Heraclius,  who  was  in  this  world  nineteen  years, 
seven  months,  twenty  days,  a  reader  of  the  second 
district.  (His  parents)  made  this  for  themselves  and 
their  well-deserving  son,  in  peace ; "  cinnamivs  opas 
LECTOR  TiTVLi  FACiOLi  AMicvs  PAVPERVM — "  Cinnamius 
Opas,  a  reader  of  the  church  of  Faciolus,  a  friend  of 
the  poor;  "  mirae  innocentiae  adq  •  eximiae  bonitatis 

HIC  REQVIESCIT  LEOPARDVS  LECTOR  DE  PVDENTIANA  QVI 

vixit  ANN.  xxiiii — "  Here  rests  Leopardus,  of  wonderful 
innocence  and  remarkable  goodness,  a  reader  of  the 
church  of  Pudentiana,  who  lived  twenty-four  years ;  " 

HIC    REQVIESCIT    IN   SOMNO   PACIS    CAELIVS   LAVRENTIVS 

*  Socrat.^  iii,  i.     Sozom.^  v.  2.  f  cxxiii,  c.  54. 

\  Leo  X.  was  a  priest  at  seven  and  a  cardinal  at  ten.  Among  the 
five  hundred  clergy  destroyed  by  the  Vandal  persecution  in  Carthage 
were  many  infant  readers— quam  plurimi  erant  lectores  infantuli. — 
Victor  de  Persec.  Vandal^  lib.  iii. 

§  On  the  tomb  of  a  youth  of  fourteen  occurs  the  words,  VOTVS 
DEO,  "  Dedicated  to  God." 


'! 


Primitive  Rites  and  Ittstitutions. 


5»7 


LECTOR    SANCTAE     ECCLESIAE     AECLANENSIS    QVI    VIXIT 

ANNOS  PLM  •  XLViii— "  Here  rests,  in  the  sleep  of 
peace,  Caelius  Laurentius,  a  reader  of  the  holy  church 
of  ^clanum,  who  lived  forty-tight  years,  more  or 
less." 

The  acolytes  were  another  class  which  is  discontinued 
in  the  protestant  communion.  As  the  name  implies,* 
.  they  were  the  servitors  of  the  church,  and  had  charge 
of  the  lamps  and  other  ecclesiastical  furniture.  They 
were  probably  the  offspring  of  the  increasing  pomp  and 
dignity  of  the  bishops,  to  whom  they  acted  as  personal 
attendants,  especially  in  public  orocessions  and  religious 
festivals.  The  only  dated  epitaphs  of  acolytes  extant 
are  of  a  comparatively  late  period.  De  Rossi  thinks  the 
following  of  the  sixth  or  seventh  century.f  The  sim- 
plicity of  the  primitive  church  had  long  since  passed 
away,     (p)ace    abvndantivs  acol  •  reg   qvartae  tt 

VESTINAE  QVI  VIXIT  ANN  •  XXXIII  DEP  •  INP  •  D    NAT  •  SCI 

MARCi — "  In  peace,  Abundantius,  an  acolyte  of  the 
fourth  district,  of  the  church  of  Vestina,  who  lived 
thirty-three  years.  Buried  in  peace  on  the  birthday  of 
St.  Mark." 

The  office  of  exorcist,  from  the  occult  and  mysteri- 
ous nature  of  its  functions,  was  one  that  from  the  first 
was  liable  Jto  abuse.  It  appears  to  have  been  known  in 
the  synagogue,  and  even  there  to  have  been  usurped  for 
base  and  venal  purposes.^     A  battle  between  supernal 

♦  'AKoAowtfof,  "  A  servant." 

\  Cornelius,  bishop  of  Rome  in  the  third  century,  says  there  were 
in  that  church  forty-t\»ro  acolytes,  (Euseb.,  H.E.,  vi,  43  ;)  and,  accord- 
ing to  Eusebius,  a  great  number  attended  the  bishops  at  the  council 
of  Nice. 

%  See  the  vagabond  Jew  exorcists  of  Acts  xix,  13.  They  were 
probably  also  magicians  and  soothsayers.  Exorcism  was  common 
also  among   the  pagan  soothsayers,  with  whom  the  Christians  were 


II 


►  *, 


•il 


I     i 


I 


iii 


if! 


S!8 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


IM, 


1!^ 
I  i 


VXl 


and  infernal  powers  seems  to  have  been  coincident  with 
the  conflict  between  Christianity  and  paganism.  The 
Christians  believed  the  oracles  and  idols  of  the  gods  to  be 
animated  by  daemons,  who  frequently  usurped  possession 
also  of  human  beings.  Tertullian,*  Origen,f  and  others 
of  the  Fathers,  claim  that  any  private  Christian  could 
exorcise  these  daemons  by  faith  and  prayer.  It  was 
probably  a  spiritual  gift  like  that  of  "  tongues,"  which 
was  granted  for  a  special  purpose  and  afterward  with- 
drawn, perhaps  on  account  of  its  abuse.  This  mysteri- 
ous function  did  not  become  a  distinct  office  till  the 
latter  part  of  the  third  century,  when  the  exorcists  were 
set  apart  by  special  ordination,  and  furnished  with  spe- 
cial forms  of  adjuration.  This  rite  was  then  generally 
performed  with  solemn  ceremonial  before  the  baptism 
of  converts  from  paganism.  It  was  accompanied  by 
prayer,  insufflation,  imposition  of  hands,  and  the  sign 
of  the  cross,  in  order  to  deliver  the  subject  from  the 
dominion  of  the  Prince  of  Darkness,  and  to  consecrate 
him  to  the  service  of  God.  In  later  days  this  office 
became  subject  to  frightful  abuse,  and  all  the  grotesque 
and  horrible  adjuncts  of  exorcism  of  the  Roman  church 
— the  charms,  conjurations,  wearing  of  scapulars  and  rel- 
ics, incensings  and  sprinklings,  were  introduced — rites 
which  find  their  analogues  only  in  the  magical  incanta- 
tions of  the  medicine-men  of  the  Caffre  Kraal  or  the 


sometimes  confounded.  It  is  probable  against  them  that  a  law  of  Ul- 
pian  was  directed,  condemning  those  who  used  incantations,  impre- 
cations, or,  to  use  the  common  word  of  impostors,  exorcisms — Si 
incantavit,  si  imprecatus  est,  si  (ut  vulgari  verbo  impostorum  utar) 
exorcisavit. 

*  Apol^  23. 

f  Cont.  Cels.,  vii.  Gregory  Thaumatui^s,  the  Wonder-worker, 
won  especial  fame  by  his  exploits  of  this  nature. — Socrates,  iv,  27. 
Antony,  of  Egypt,  could  detect  diemons  by  the  sense  of  smell ! 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions.  519 

Indian  lodgd.*  *'  The  best  exorcism,"  says  Tcrtullian, 
"  is  by  watchfulness  and  prayer  to  resist  the  devil,  and 
cast  out  evil  thoughts."  The  following  are  epitaphs  of 
exorcists :  ianvarivs  exorcist  a — "  Januarius  the  exor- 
cist ;  "     HIC     REQVIESCIT    •  IN  •  SOMNO      PACIS  •  CAELIVS  • 

lOHANNis  EXHORcisTA  (x/V) — "  Here  rests,  in  the  sleep 
of  peace,  Caelius  John,  an  exorcist." 

The  energumens,  or  possessed  persons,  were  com- 
mitted to  the  especial  care  of  the  exorcists,  who  cm- 
ployed  them  in  the  secular  service  of  the  sanctuary,  as 
sweeping  and  cleaning  the  church,  "lest  idleness  should 
become  a  temptation  for  Satan  to  molest  them."  There 
is  no  indication  of  the  existence  of  this  unhappy  clas$ 
of  persons  in  the  church  of  the  Catacombs,  at  least  so 
far  as  monumental  evidence  is  concerned. 

A  very  numerous  class  in  the  economy  of  the  prim- 
itive church  was  that  of  the  fossors,  or  grave-diggers, 
by  whose  labours  these  vast  labyrinths  were  exca- 
vated. They  seem  to  have  had  especial  charge  of  the 
subterranean  cemeteries,  and  we  have  had  numerous 
examples  of  the  transfer  and  sale  of  graves  under  their 
authority.!  They  had  also  a  quasi-ecclesiastical  rank, 
and  were  subject  to  ecclesiastical  discipline.  "  The 
first  order  of  the  clergy,"  says  Jerome,  "  is  that  of  the 
fossors,  who,  after  the  manner  of  holy  Tobit,  are  em- 
ployed in  burying  the   dead."  J     They  probably  also 

"^^  A  somewhat  analogous  practice  to  the  ancient  exorcism  was  that 
of  touching  for  king's  evil,  for  which  there  was  a  recognized  form  in 
the  prayer-book  of  the  time  of  George  II. — De  Strumosis  Attrectan. 
dis,    Charles  II.  "  touched  "  one  hundred  thousand  persons. 

\  See  ante,  p.  132. 

\  Primus  in  clericis  fossariorum  ordo  est,  etc. — De  Sept.  Ord.  Eccles. 
They  were  also  called  lecticarii,  from  their  carrying  the  corpse  on  a 
lectica  or  bier,  and  copiatce,  a  word  of  uncertain  origin.  Constantine 
organized  the  copiatce  into  a  corporation  at  Constantinople,  where 
they  numbered  four  hundred.     Compare  the  Parabolani  of  Alexandria. 


H 


II 


■A 


520 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


assisted  the  regular  clergy  in  the  celebrati6n  of  the  fu- 
neral rites.  The  melanrholy  office  of  this  pious  confra- 
ternity, always  a  sad  necessity  of  humanity,  was  particu- 
larly so  to  the  persecuted  church  of  the  Catacombs. 

The  excavations  were  evidently  under  one  directorate, 
so  symmetrical  and  uniform  is  their  character.  A  con- 
siderable degree  of  architectural  skill  is  exhibited  in  the 
construction  and  adornment  of  the  subterranean  chapels, 
many  of  which  are  of  cpiite  ornamental  design,  and  in 
the  excavation  of  the  multitude  of  galleries  and  differ- 
ent levels  of  this  vast  city  of  the  dead,  proving  that  the 
fossors  we**  ^  no  mean  civil  engineers.  They  were  also 
probably  the  artists  of  the  rude  inscriptions.  The  office 
seems  sometimes  to  have  been  hereditary,  as  we  find  as 
many  as  three  generations  of  fossors  in  the  same  family. 
We  have  seen  examples  of  the  numerous  frescoes  repre- 
senting these  lowly  diggers  at  work,  often  like  miners, 
by  the  light  of  a  lamp,  or  surrounded  by  the  implements 
of  their  calling.*  The  following  are  characteristic  epi- 
taphs of.  this  class:  MAio  fossori — "To  Maius,  the 
fossor;"  felix  fossor  vixit  annis  lxii — "  Felix,  the 
fossor.  He  lived  seventy-two  years  ;  "  diogenes  •  fos- 
sor .  IN  •  PACE  •  DEPOSiTvs — "  Diogencs,  the  fossor,  buried 
in  peace." 

With  these  were  probably  confounded  in  the  earlier 
ages  the  ostiarii,  or  door-keepers.  Their  office  was  one 
of  great  trust  and  responsibility  in  times  of  persecution, 
when  the  Christian  worship  had  often  to  be  celebrated 
in  secret,  aqd  protected  from  the  intrusion  of  spies  or 
of  the  profanely  curious  heathen.  It  was  their  duty  to 
distinguish  between  the  faithful  and  scoffers  and  traitors, 
and  to  give  private  notice  of  the  secret  assemblies 
of  the  Christians.      The    following  inscrip^iqi^   qf  the 

♦  See  Figs.  23,  24, 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions.  521 

sixth  century,  as  restored  by  De  Rossi,  commemorates  a 
similar  office  in  the  basilica  :  log  •  deci  .  cvbicvlari  • 
Hvivs- BASILICAE — "The  place  of  Decius,  custodian  of 
this  basilica."  We  have  also  the  epitaph  of  a /«<j//w«rj- 
r/V/j,  a  similar  officer.* 


♦  With  the  increase  of  wealth  and  the  progress  of  learning  in  the 
Christian  community,  the  number  and  variety  of  clerical  offices  was 
greatly  multiplied,  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  pomp  and  gorgeous 
ritual  were  added.  A  multitude  of  inferior  ecclesiastical  dependants 
hung  upon  the  church,  absorbing  its  strength,  corrupting  its  virtue, 
and  degrading  its  character.  The  knowledge  of  their  very  name •> 
and  offices  has  become  a  difficult  task.  Thus  we  have  sacrislarii,  or 
keepers  of  the  sacred  vestments  and  vessels ;  cappellani,  or  attendants 
on  the  altar;  malricularii,  or  marshals  of  the  public  processions; 
sfauro/Aori,  or  crosa  bearers  ;  ceroferarii  and  thuri/erarii,  the  bearers 
of  tapers  and  incense  ;  and  parafrenarii,  or  coachmen  of  the  higher 
ecclesiastics — the  latter,  according  to  Mabillon,  being  themselves  reck- 
oned among  the  clergy.  There  were  also  axonomi,  or  stewards  of 
church  lands  ;  thesaitrii^ox  treasurers  of  ecclesiastical  funds/  notarii, 
or  secretaries  ;  apocrisiani,  or  legates  ;  cancfUarii,  or  chancellors ; 
symiici,  or  syndics ;  and  henneneutai,  or  interjireters,  chiefly  in  the 
Syrian  and  African  churches,  where  the  congregation  used  different 
languages  —  speaking  to  the  people  in  an  unknown  tongue  is  a  Rom- 
ish innovation.  Even  the  offices  of  highest  dignity  were  indefinitely 
multiplied.  There  were  several  orders  of  bishops; — metropolitans, 
archbishops,  patriarchs,  primates,  and  exarchs ;  bishops  diocesan, 
bishops  quiescentes,  that  is,  without  charges,  and  titular  bishops  with 
charges  in  partibus  infidelium  ;  suffragan  bishops  and  chorepiscopi  ; 
cardinals  and  vicars  general ;  and  many  other  officers  of  lordly  titles, 
princely  wealth,  and  vast  political  power.  But  of  these  we  find  no 
examples,  no  prototypes  in  the  epitaphs  of  the  Catacombs,  nor  in  the 
lowly  pastors  of  the  persecuted  flock  of  Christ  in  the  primitive  .iges 
of  the  church.  The  r.ppUcation  of  the  title  of  pope  with  its  present 
signification  to  the  early  bishops  is  a  ludicrous  anachronism  and  mis- 
nomer, as  nothing  could  be  further  from  the  reality  than  the  idea 
which  it  now  suggests. 

Like  the  vine,  which,  twining  round  some  noble  elm,  scem<-  to  en- 
hance its  beauty,  but  in  time  completely  stifles  its  strength  in  its 
strangling  embrace,  so  the  rank  growth  of  human  institutions  has 
strangled  the  life   of  the  goodly   tree  of  Roman  Christianity,  and 


ill 


1 


$22 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I    i      i 


ft 


*:.  \ 


I  •■ 


ll 


*.ui 


An  exaggerated  commendation  of  the  supposed  supe- 
rior sanctity  of  single  life  has   long  been  a  prominent 
characteristic  of   Romanism.      A  natural  corollary  of 
this  notion  was  the   enforced   celibacy  of  the  clergy.* 
Upon  the  Procrustean  bed  of  this  iron  rule  Rome  has 
not  £  .riiplcd  to  bind  the  tenderest  and  most  sacred  af- 
fections of  the  human  soul.     This  cherished,  but,  .as  all 
history  proves,  most  pernicious  practice,  has  been  the 
secret  of  much  of  the  marvellous  power  of  the  priest- 
hood and  of  the  religious  orders.     The  suppression  of 
the  domestic  affections  but  intensified  their  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  the  church,  which  took  the  place  of  both 
wife  and  child,  and  engrossed  all  their  thoughts  and  all 
their  energies.      They   became   a   priestly  caste,  ani- 
mated by  a  strong  esprit  de  corps  superior  to  the  claims 
of   kindred  or  of  country.      But,  as   might  have  been 
anticipated,   this    anti-natural    system    led    to    fri^ht- 
iul   abuses  and   corruptions,  and  to  the  most  flagrant 
inno/ations. 

The  no  ion  of  the  greater  sanctity  of  celibacy  was 
derived,  not  from  the  teachings  of  our  Lord  or  the 
apostles,  who  rejognized  the  essential  purity  of  mar- 
riage ;  but  probably,  as  Milman  suggests,  from  the  early 
heresy  of  the  Gnostics,  of  which  this  doctrine  was  a 
prominent    characteristic.!     "  There   was   no  enforced 

blighted  the  promise  of  its  early  years.  Forms  of  ritual  should  be 
but  the  trellis  for  the  support  of  a  spiritual  worship ;  else,  better  that, 
like  the  brazen  serpent,  they  be  broken  in  pieces,  and,  like  the  body 
of  Moses,  buried  in  an  unknown  sepulchre,  than  become  the  objects 
of  idi  latrous  homage  or  of  superstitious  veneration. 

*  It  was  a  primitive  and  probably  correct  opinion  that  all  the  apos- 
tles were  married  except  Paul  and  John — Omnes  apostoli,  exceptis 
Johanne  et  Paulo,  uxores  habuerunt. — Ambros.,  ad  Hilar. ;  Clem. 
Alex.,  Strom.,  iii;  Euseb.,  H.  E.,  iii,  ?o;  Orig.,  Com.  in  Rom. 

\  It  was  probably  derived  by  them  from  the  Essenes  and  other  as- 
cetic communities  of  the  East. 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions, 


523 


lupe- 

Inent 

of 
* 


celibacy  during  the  first  three  centuries,"  says  the  judi- 
cious  Bingham.*     Indeed,   marriage   was   regarded  as 
enjoined  on  bishops,  elders,  and  deacons,  by  the  coun- 
sel of  St.  Paul.f     The  occasional  passages  of  Scripture, 
in  which  for  temporary  and  special  reasons  a  single  life 
is  recommended,  were  in  course  of  time  wrested  from 
their  obvious  meaning  to  a  more  general  application ; 
and  in  the  writings  of  some  of  the  Fathers,  marriage 
was  regarded  as  a  necessary  evil,  only  to  be  tolerated 
for  the  perpetuation  of  the  race,  and  on  account  of  the 
infirmity  of  the  weak.     It  was  not  till  the  fourth  cen- 
tury that  the   church   adopted   the   doctrine  of  devils 
spoken  of  by  St.  Pau^  as  **  forbidding  to  marry."     The 
earliest  ecclesiastical  legislation  on  the  subject  was  at 
the  Spanish  council  of  Elvira,  A.   D.  305,  which  com- 
manded ecclesiastics  who  were  married  to  separate  from 
their  wives — abstinere  se  a  conjugibus  suis — thus  ruth- 
lessly putting  asunder   those  whom   God  had   joined. 
The  synods  of  Ancyra  and  Neo  Caesarea,  held  ten  years 
later,  and  also  one  of  the  so-called  apostolic  canons  of 
the  same  date,  reversed   this   decree,  and  forbade  any 
ecclesiastic  to  put  away  his  wife  on  the  plea  of  religion, 
under  penalty  of  excommunication,  which   action  was 
confirmed  by  the  great  council  of  Nice.t     Successive 
attempts   to   extirpate   the   tenderest  human   instincts 
only  led  to  their  illicit  gratification,  and  to  the  scandals 
arising  from  the  admission  of  mulieres  subintroductcE,  or, 

♦  Orig.  Eccles.,  iv,  4. 

f  I  Tim.  ii,  2,  12  ;  Titus  i,  6.  So  the  Greek  Church  still  under- 
stands him,  requiring  the  marriage  of  its  clergy.  Tertullian,  Cyprian, 
Gregory  of  Nyssa,  Hilary  of  Poitiers,  Spyridon,  Synesius,  and  many 
other  distinguished  ecclesiastics  of  early  times,  are  recorded  to  have 
been  married. 

\  Socrat.,  i,  li;  Sozvm.,  i,  23.  "  Marriage  is  the  true  chastity," 
exclaimed  the  aged  bishop  Paphnutius. 


ii 


if 


i': 


524 


T/ie  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


in  other  words,  of  concubines.  So  demoralized  did  the 
clergy  thereby  become,  that  during  the  Middle  Ages, 
as  Mr.  Lea  remarks,  "  though  the  ancient  canons  were 
still  theoretically  in  force,  they  were  practically  obsolete 
every-where."*  At  length  Luther  led  the  great  eman- 
cipation of  the  clergy  from  this  burden,  so  unutterably 
grievous  to  many  a  tender  conscience  ;  and  removed  the 
stigma  of  disgrace  from  those  domestic  relations  which 
God,  who  setteth  the  solitary  in  families,  so  signally 
blesses. 

There  is  no  trace  of  the  ascetic  spirit  or  celibate 
clergy  of  the  Church  of  Rome  in  the  inscriptions  of  the 
Catacombs.  On  the  contrary,  numerous  epitaphs  com- 
memorate the  honourable  marriage  of  members  of  every 
ecclesiastical  grade.  Thus,  in  the  highest  rank,  Gruterf 
gives  the  following,  which  is  thought  to  be  that  of  Libe- 
rius,  bishop  of  Rome,  who  died  A.  D.  ^66,  and  who 
was  sometimes  known  by  the  name  of  Leo : 

HVNC  MIHI  COMPOSVIT  TVMVLVM  LAVRENTIA  CONIVX 
MORIBVS  APTA  MEIS  SEMPER  VENERANDA  FIDELIS 


*  Sacerdotal  Celibacy,  p.  162.  The  satirical  songs,  tales,  and 
scandalous  anecdotes  concerning  the  celibate  clergy,  and  the  denun- 
ciations of  their  vice  by  successive  councils,  attest  the  social  deprav- 
ity caused  by  this  system.  The  ascetic  depreciation  of  woman  led 
also  inevitably  to  her  moral  degradation.  She  was  described  by  some 
of  the  monkish  writers,  who  thus  slandered  the  memory  of  their  own 
mothers,  as  a  noxious  animal,  the  very  essence  of  evil  and  gate  of 
hell,  whose  beauty  was  a  lure  of  the  devil  and  perpetual  temptation 
to  sin,  and  her  very  presence  a  contamination.  The  tenderest  family 
ties  were  severed  at  the  fancied  call  of  duty.  In  Roman  Catholic 
countries  woman  is  still  immured  with  almost  oriental  jealousy,  and 
is  denied  the  intellectual  emancipation  her  sex  elsewhere  enjoys.  She 
may  not  enter  the  most  sacred  places  of  Rome,  nor  visit  the  pope, 
except  in  mourning.  There  is  no  music  for  the  female  voice  in  the 
service  of  the  papal  chapel. 

f  luicrip.  Antiq.,  p.  1173. 


Id  the 
Lges, 
[were 
lolete 
jman- 
|rably 
the 
^hich 
[nally 


Primitive  Rites  and  I/isititutions.         525 

INVIDIA  INFELIX  TANDEM  COMPRESSA  QVIESCIT 
OCTOGINTA  LEO  TRANSCENDIT  EPISCOPVS  ANNOS. 

My  wife  Laurentia  made  me  this  tomb  ;  she  was  ever  suited  to  my 
disposition,  venerable  and  faithful.  At  length  disappointed  envy  lies 
crushed  ;  the  bishop  Leo  survived  his  eightieth  year. 

De  Rossi  gives  the  following,  of  a  bishop's  son,  of 
date  A.  D.  404.  The  relationship  is  boldly  acknowl- 
edged, and  not  yet  disguised  under  the  phrase  nepos  or 
nephew :  victor  in  pace  filivs  episcopi  victoris  civ- 
iTATis  vcRENSiVM — *'  Victor,  in  peace,  son  of  Bishop 
Victor,  of  the  city  of  the  Ucrenses."  The  following, 
of  date  A.  D.  445,  was  found  at  Narbonne :  rvsticvs  • 

EPis  •  EPi  •  BONOSi  •  filivs  ....  "  Bishop  Rusticus,  son 
of  Bishop  Bonosus." 

There  are  also  numerous  inscriptions  in  which  pres- 
byters and  deacons  lament  the  death  of  their  wives, 
"  chaste,  just,  and  holy."  "  Would  to  God,"  exclaims 
a  writer  in  the  Revue  Chr'etienne,  "  that  all  their  succes- 
sors had   such."    The   following  are   examples :  gav- 

DENTIVS  •  PRESBYTER  •  SIBI  ET  CONIVGI  SVAE  SEVERAE 
CASTAE  HAC  {sic)  SANCTISSIMAE  FEMINAE — "  GaudcntiuS 

the  presbyter,  for  himself  and  his  wife  Severa,*a  chaste 
and  most  holy  woman ;  "  locvs  basili  presb  et  felici- 
TATi  Eivs.  ..."  The  place  of  Basil  the  presbyter,  and 
of  Felicitas,  his  (wife)."  Observe  also  the  tender  recog- 
nition of  family  ties  in  the  following :  glim  presbyteri 

GABINI  FiLIA  FELIX    HIC    SVSANNA  lACET  IN  PACE  PATRI 

SOCIATA — "  Once  the  happy  daughter  of  the  presbyter  Ga- 
binus,  here  lies  Susanna,  joined  to  her  father  in  peace." 
We  have  already  seen  the  epitaph  of  "  Petronia,  the 
wife  of  a  deacon,  the  type  of  modesty,"  with  whom 
were  buried  two  of  her  children.*    The  following,  of 

♦See  ante,  p.  428.      The  following  is  from  Salonne :  FL- IVLIVS 

DIACONVS  ET  AVREHA  MERIA  CONIVX    EIVS    'IOC    SARCOFAGVM   (sir) 


1*1 

i'ii 


526 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I 


similar  character,  is  accompanied  by  the  epitaph  of  a 
deacon  on  the  same  stone,  probably  the  husband  who  so 
tenderly  lamented  the  loss  of  his  faithful  consort 

LEVITAE  CONIVX  SEMPER  MIHI  GRATA  MARIA 
EXITVS  ISTE  TVVS  PROSTRAVIT  CORDA  TVORVM 
PERPETVAS  NOBIS  LACRIMAS   LVCTVMQVE  RELINQVENS 
CASTA  GRAVIS  SAPIEN     SIMPLEX  VENERANDA  FIDELIS 
COMPLEVIT  TVA  VOTA  i.yEVS  TE  NAMQVE  MARITVS 
TE  NATI  DEFLENT  NEC  MORS  TIBI   SVSTVLIT  VLLVM. 

Maria,  the  wife  of  a  deacon,  ever  well-pleasing  to  me.  That  de- 
parture of  thine  prostrated  the  hearts  of  thy  friends,  leaving  perpet- 
ual tears  and  grief  to  us.  Chaste,  grave,  wise,  simple,  venerable, 
faithful.  God  fulfilled  thy  wishes ;  for  thee  thy  husband,  thee  thy 
children  bewail,  nor  did  death  bear  any  away  from  thee.  (A.  D.  451.) 

Epitaphs  are  also  found  indicating  the  prevalence  of 
marriage  in  the  inferior  ecclesiastical  ranks,  as  in  the 
following  examples :  ct.avdivs  atticanvs  lector  et 
CLAVDiA  FELicissiMA  CONIVX — "  Claudius  Atticanus,  the 
reader,  and  Claudia  FeHcissiraa,  his  wife ;  "  *  ianva- 

RIVS     EXORCISTA   •  SIBI  •  ET   •  CONIVGI  •  FECIT "  Janua- 

rius,  the  exorcist,  made  this  for  himself  and  his  wife ;  " 

TERENTIVS   •    FOSOR    •    (j/V)    •    PRIMITIVE    (j/V)  •  CONIVGI  • 

ET  •  SIBI*-  — "  Terentius,  the  fossor,  for  Primitiva,  his 
wife  and  himself." 

The  primitive  church  early  availed  itself  of  the  ser- 
vices of  godly  women,  a  sort  of  female  diaconate,  for 
the  administration  of  charity,  the  care  of  the  sick,  the 
instruction  of  the  young,  and  of  their  own  sex,  and  to 
carry  the  light  and  consolations  of  the  gospel  into  the 
most  private  and  delicate  relations  of  life,  for  which 

SIBI  vivi  POSVERVNT  — "  Flavius  Julius,  a  deacon,  and  Aurelia  Me- 
ria,  his  wife,  while  living,  erected  this  sarcophagus  for  themselves." 
See,  also,  the  epitaph  of  Tettius  Felicissimus,  p.  474. 

*  The  following  is  from  the  island  of  Salamis :  OZ/cof  aXdvio^ 
^kydduvog  uvayuuaTov  koI  Ev<f>Tjuiag ..."  The  everlasting  dwelling  ol 
Agatho,  a  reader,  and  Euph^mia.  .  .  ."    She  was  probably  his  wife. 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions.  527 

these  gentle  ministrants  possessed  facilities  denied  to 
the  other  sex.  They  are  frequently  mentioned  in  the 
writings  of  the  Fathers  under  the  names  of  6idKovoi* 
deaconesses,  vidiicp.^  widows,  ox.ancillce  Dei^  handmaids 
of  God.  In  apostolic  times  they  were  required  to  be 
of  the  mature  age  of  sixty  years  ;t  but  widows,  and  even 
the  unmarried,  were  subsequently  admitted  into  this 
class  as  early  as  forty,J  or  even  twenty,  §  years  of  age. 
The  unmarried,  however,  assumed  no  vow  of  perpetual 
celibacy,  jj  nor  of  conventual  life,  but  lived  privately  in 
their  own  homes,  employed  in  offices  of  piety  and  mercy. 
The  growing  esteem  of  celibacy,  however,  in  the  fourth 
and  fifth  centuries,  invoked  ecclesiastical  censure  for 
.the  abandonment  of  the  lofty  vantage  ground  of  virgin- 
hood  ;  ^  but  the  Imperial  law  granted  liberty  of  mar- 

*  Thus,  St.  Paul  calls  Phoebe  a  (Udxovof,  translated  "  servant,"  of 
the  church  at  Cenchriu.-  ^<?/;/.,xvi,  i.  The  Christian  ancilUc  quit 
viinistra  (iicebantur,  whom  Pliny  tortured,  were  probably  of  this 
class. 

f  I  Tim.  V,  9. 

\  Concil.  Chalceilon,  c.  14- 

§  Tertul.,  de  Velaiul.  Virgin.,  c  g.  Olympias,  a  Christian  matron 
of  Corstantinople,  of  noble  rank,  widowed  at  eighteen,  became  a 
deacone.s,  and  devoted  her  immense  fortune  to  charity.  She  was 
long  the  clovoted  patroness  of  the  pei-secuted  Chrysostom. 

II  Cypr.,  Ep.,  62. 

^  The  Fathers  are  enthusiastic  in  the  praise  of  perpetual  virginity. 
"  It.  has  the  higher  dignity,  as  vessels  of  gold  and  silver  compared  to 
earthenware,"  says  Jerome. — Adv.  Jovin.  "  The  thirty-fold  increase 
of  Scripture."  he  asserts.  "  refers  to  marriage,  the  sixty-fold  to  widow- 
hood, but  the  hundred-fold  to  virginity." — Ad  Ageruchiam.  "  Mar- 
riage replenishes  earth,"  he  adds  ;  "  but  virginity,  heaven  " — Nup- 
tiae  terram  replent,  virginitas  paradisum.  "  These  sacred  virgins  are 
the  necklace  of  the  church."  says  Prudentius,  "  and  with  these  gems 
she  is  adorned  " — Hoc  est  monile  ecclesije !  His  ilia  gemmis  comi- 
tur  ! — Peristeph.,  H.,  3.  They  became  in  a  mystical  sense  the  spous- 
es of  Christ,  dnd  Jerome  blasphemously  addresses  the  mother  of 
Eustochium  as  the  mother-in-law  of  God — Socrus  Dei  esse  coepisli. 


.  t 


f 


528 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


riage,  if  the  order  had  been  entered  before  the  age  of 
forty.  How  different  the  practice  of  Rome  in  binding 
young  girls,  in  the  first  outburst  of  religious  enthusiasm, 
or  the  first  bitterness  of  disappointed  hope,  by  irrevoca- 
ble vows  to  a  death-in-life,  and  indissolubly  riveting 
those  bonds,  no  matter  how  the  chafed  soul  may  repu- 
diate the  rash  vow,  and  writhe  beneath  the  galling  yoke. 
The  consecrated  virgin  of  the  early  church,  instead  of 
the  ghastly  robings,  like  the  cerements  of  the  grave,  in 
which  the  youthful  nun  is  swathed,  the  symbol  of  her 
social  death,  wore  a  sacrum  velamen,  or  veil,  differing  but 
little  from  that  of  Christian  matrons,  and  a  fillet  of  gold 
around  her  hair.  The  custom,  now  part  of  the  Romish 
ritual,  of  despoiling  the  head  of  its  natural  adorning,  was 
especially  denounced  by  some  of  the  ancient  councils. 

There  are  several  of  the  early  Christian  inscriptions  il- 
lustrative of  these  various  classes  of  consecrated  women, 
of  which  the  following  are  examples :  oc  •  ta  •  vi  •  ae  • 
MA  •  TRO  •  N AE  •  VI .  DV  •  AE  •  DE  •  I. — "  To  the  matroft  Octa- 
via,  a  wido^y  of  God ;  "  hic  qviescit  ga vdiosa  cf  ancil- 
LA  DEI  QVAE  vixiT  ANNOS  XL  ET  MEN  v — "  Here  rests 
Gaudiosa,  a  most  distinguished  woman,  a  handmaid  of 
God,  who  lived  forty  years  and  five  months,"  (A.  D. 

447)  ;     IN    HOC     SEPVLCHRO     REQVIESCIT     PVELLA    VIRGO 

SACRA  B  •  M  •  ALEXANDRA — "In  this  tomb  rests  a  girl,  a 
sacred  virgin,  Alexandra,  well   deserving ;  "    hoc   est 

5EPVLCRVM    SANCTAE    LVCINAE    VIRGINIS — "  This    is    the 

sepulchre  of  the  holy  virgin  Lucina"  —  this,  however, 
may  not  indicate   a  special    class.      aestonia    virgo 

PEREGRINA  QVAE  VIXIT  ANNOS  XLI  ;    ET  •  DS  •  VIII  («V) — 


— Ad  Eustoch.  Both  Jerome  and  Chrysostom,  however,  acknowl- 
edged, and  unsparingly  lashed,  the  evils  to  which  the  celibate  system 
in  their  time  had  led.  "  She  is  the  true  virgin,"  says  the  latter,  "  who 
careth  for  the  things  that  belong  to  the  Lord." 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions. 


5^9 


"Estonia,  a  travelling  virgin,  who  lived  forty-one  years? 
and  eight  days  " — she  was  probably  a  member  of  a  dis. 
tant  church,  received  on  a  letter  of  recommendation ; 
FVRIA  HELPHis  (j/V)  VIRGO  DEVOTA — "  Furia  Elpis,  a 
consecrated  virgin."  In  the  fifth  century  this  consecra- 
tion sometimes  took  place  at  an  early  age,  as  the  following 
example,  of  date  A.  D.  401 :  prie  {sic)  ivnias  pavsabet 

{sic)  PRAETIOSA  ANNORVM  PVLLA  {sic)  VIRGO  XII  tantvm 

ancilla  DEI  ET  CHRiSTi — "  On  the  day  before  (the  Cal- 
ends of)  June  Praetiosa  went  to  her  rest,  a  young  maiden 
of  only  twelve  years  of  age,  a  handmaid  of  God  and  of 
Christ."* 

There  is  no  trace  in  the  inscriptions  of  the  Catacombs 
of  that  ascetic  spirit  from  which,  in  the  fourth  and  fol- 
lowing centuries,  sprang  the  strange  phenomena  of 
monachism,  with  its  important  influence  for  blended 
good  and  evil  on  the  future  of  Christendom.  That 
was  rather  the  result  of  the  decay  and  corruption  of 
primitive  Christianity,  and  of  the  despair  of  mankind  as 
to  its  regenerative  power  upon  the  world.  Hence, 
multitudes  fled  from  the  immedicable  evils  of  society 
to  the  solitude  of  the  desert  or  the  mountain,  f  Prim- 
itive Christianity,  on  the  contrary,  was  eminently 
cheerful  and  social  in  its  character.  It  consecrated 
the  family  life,  and  developed,  to  a  degree  before  un- 
known, the  domestic  virtues. 

The  care  of  the  primitive  church  for  the  religious 
teaching  of   the    young   and    of    heathen   converts   is 


*  In  one  example,  of  date  A.  D.  525,  we  find  the  phrase  nonnae 
ANCILLAE  DEI,  in  which  we  see,  perhaps,  the  origin  of  our  word  nun. 
Jerome  had  previously  applied  the  word  nonnce  to  either  widows  or 
virgins  professing  chastity. — Ad  Eustcch.,  c.  6. 

f  See  article  on  *'  The  Rise  of  Monachism,"  by  the  present 
writer,  in  London  Quarterly  /^erJtew,  October,  1073. 

34 


530 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


abundantly  exemplified  in  the  inscriptions  of  the  Cata- 
combs. The  catechumens,  or  learners,  as  the  word 
signifies — the  "  Cadets  of  Christianity  " — were  a  dis- 
tinctly recognized  class  for  whose  instruction  especial 
provision  was  made.  It  consisted  of  the  children  of 
believers  born  in  the  church,  and  therefore  peculiarly 
under  its  care;  and  also  of  converts  from  paganism, 
who  needed  to  be  weaned  from  their  errors,  and  taught 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity  before  admission  to  the 
sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  holy  eucharist.  For 
the  latter,  as  a  safeguard  against  the  rash  assumption 
of  the  Christian  vows  and  the  danger  of  subsequent 
apostacy,  a  certain  probation  was  prescribed.*  The 
candidates  were  taught  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  a  formal 
confession  of  faith,  probably  similar  to  the  ancient 
cre^d  in  which  the  Christian  belief  of  the  church  has 
for  so  many  centuries  been  expressed.  These  instruc- 
tions were  given  by  the  bishop  himself  as  chief  cate- 
chist ;  and  also  by  the  presbyters,  deacons,  lectors,  and 
other  members  of  the  inferior  ministry.  Deaconesses 
and  aged  women  acted  as  instructresses  of  their  own 
sex ;  and  one  of  these  was  always  present  during  the 
questioning  of  the  female  catechumens  by  the  male 
catechists. 

The  following  engraving  represents  a  chamber  in  the 
Catacomb  of  St.  Agnes,  which,  it  is  conjectured,  was 
employed  for  the  instruction  of  the  female  catechu- 
mens. On  either  side  of  the  doorway  are  seats  or 
chairs  hewn  out  of  the  solid  tufa,  which  were  probably 
occupied  by  the  catechisl  and  the  presiding  deaconess 
The  low  stone  bench  runiing  around  the  remaining  walls 

*  This  was  not  of  uniform  duration.  The  Council  of  Elvira, 
(c.  24,)  indeed,  prescribed  two  years,  but  the  length  of  the  period 
varied  in  different  places. 


Primitive  Rites  and  InstitittioHS.         en 


of  the  chamber  would  conveniently  accommodate  the 
audientes,  or  hearers,  as  they  were  called. 


Fiflr.  130.— Chamber  in  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Agrnes,  with  seats 
for  Catechists  and  Catechumens. 

Some  Roman  Catholic  writers  have  asserted  that  these 
chambers  were  confessionals :  but  the  chairs  are  too  far 
apart  if  one  was  for  the  confessor  and  the  other  for  the 
penitent,  especially  with  an  open  door  between ;  and 
too  near,  from  the  liability  of  the  confessions  being 
overheard,  if  each  was  a  confessional;  and  in  either 
case  the  necessity  for  the  stone  bench  cannot  be  con- 
ceived. In  some  chambers,  probably  for  the  male  cat- 
echumens, there  is  only  one  tufa  chair,  no  deaconess 
being  present. 

Another  curious  chamber  in  the  Catacomb  of  St.  Ag- 
nes   communicates  with   the    one  adjacent  to  it  by  a 


til 


\ 


i! 


532 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I 


I 


circular  opening  it  through  the  tufa  wall  about  breist- 
high.  It  is  conjectured  that  this  was  for  the  pur|X)sc 
of  allowing  the  catechumens  to  hear  the  public  instruc- 
tions of  the  faithful  without  witnessing  the  celebration 
of  the  sacraments.  The  zeal  of  the  candidates  would 
thus  be  the  more  inflamed,*  that  they  might  be  found 
worthy  of  admission  to  the  fulness  of  Christian  privi- 
lege and  to  the  sacred  mysteries  hidden  from  the  unin- 
itiate  and  the  unworthy.  The  following  epitaph  from 
the  Lapidarian  Gallery  commemorates  a  youthful  cate- 
chumen :   VCILIANVS  BACIO  VALERIO  QVE  BISET  .  {sic)  ANN 

Villi  •  MEN  •  VIII  •  DIES  XXII  CATECVM — **  Ucilianus  to  Ba- 
cius  Valerius,  a  catechumen,  who  lived  nine  years,  eight 
months  and  twenty-two  days.*' 

The  ordinance  of  baptism  receives  several  illustra- 
tions from  the  monumental  evidences  of  the  Catacombs. 
There  are  numerous  epitaphs  of  neophytes— a  term  ap- 
plied only  to  newly  baptized  persons — which  indicate 
that  this  Christian  rrte  was  administered  at  all  ages  from 
tender  infancy  to  adult  years  ;  in  the  latter  case  the  sub- 
jects being  probably  recent  converts  from  heathenism. 
The  following  are  examples  of  this  class  :  teg  •  candidis 
NEOF  Q  •  vxT  •  M  •  XXI — "  The  tile  of  Candidus,  a  neo- 
phyte,   who    lived   twenty-one    months;"    fl-iovina. 

QVAE  •  VIX    •    ANNIS    •    TRIBVS   •    D  •  XXX  •   NEOFITA  •  IN 

PACE — "  Flavia  Jovina,  who  lived  three  years  and  thirty 
days,  a  neophyte,  in  peace  ;  "  mirae  indvstriae  adqve 

BONITATIS  .  .  .  INNOCENTIA  PREDITVS  FL  •  AVR  •  LEONI  . 
NEOFITO  QVI  VIXIT  ANN  VI  •  MENS  •  VIII  DIES  XI  .  .  . "  In- 

nocentia  Preditus  to  Flavius  Aurelius  Leo,  a  neophyte 
of  wonderful  industry  and  goodness,  who  lived  six  years, 
eight  months,  eleven  days;  "  romano  neofito  bene  me- 

*  "  Tanto  ardentius  concupiscantur,  quanto  honorabilius  occultan* 
tur,"  says  Augustine,  of  this  very  practice. — In  Johan.y  96. 


Primitive  Rites  ami  Imtitutions.  5^3 

RENTI    QVI    VIXIT  •   ANNOS  •  VIII  •  D  •  XV  •  REQVIESCIT     IN 

PACE — "  To  the  well-deserving  neophyte  Ronianus,  who 
lived  eight  years  and  fifteen  days;  he  rests  in  peace." 
We  have  already  seen  the  epitaph  of  Junius  Bassus,  who 
died  a  neophyte  at  the  age  of  forty-one,  and  shall  pres- 
ently observe  other  instances  of  adult  baptism.*  We 
find  also  the  epitaph  of  "  two  innocent  brothers,  one 
a  neophyte,  the  other,  one  of  the  faithful." 

♦  The  following  r^'jMwe  of  the  principal  patristi^.  evidence  on  the 
practice  of  infant  baptism  is  corroborated  by  the  testimony  of  the 
Catacombs.  We  omit  the  passages  from  (.lement  and  Hermes  Pas- 
tor, which  imply  its  prevalence  in  the  first  century,  as  being  rather 
vague.  Justin  Martyr,  about  A.  D.  148,  speaks  of  persons  sixty  and 
seventy  years  old  who  had  been  made  disciples  of  Christ  (f/iaf/jyreixyj/oav, 
the  very  word  employed  in  Matt,  xxviii,  19,)  in  their  infancy,  {Apol., 
2,)  and  compares  the  rite  of  baptism  to  that  of  circumcision. — Dial, 
c.  Tryph.  Irenaeus  expressly  speaks  of  "  infants,  little  ones,  children, 
youth,  and  the  aged,  as  regenerated  unto  God,"  which  phrase  he  else- 
where applies  to  baptism — Infantes  et  pa.-^ailos,  et  pueros,  et  ju- 
vcnes,  et  seniores. — Lib.  ii,  c.  39.  Tertullian,  indeed,  in  the  third 
century,  recommends  the  delay  of  baptism,  especially  in  the  case  of 
infants — Cunctatio  baptismi  utilior  est,  prsecipue  tamen  circa  par- 
vulos — an  indication  of  the  Montanist  heresy,  into  which  he  fell, 
which  regarded  post-baptismal  sins  as  inexpiable. — De  Baptis.,c.  18. 
The  practice,  however,  continued,  and  Origen  expressly  asserts  that 
little  children  were  baptized  for  the  remission  of  sins  (Parvuli  bap- 
tizantur  in  remissionem  peccatorum — Honi.,  14,  in  Luc.^  which 
custom,  he  says,  the  church  handed  down  from  the  apostles — Ec- 
clesia  ab  apostoils  traditionem  suscepit. — /r/.,  in  Rom.,  v.  6.  When 
the  question  arose,  in  the  third  century,  not  whether  baptism  should 
be  administered  to  infants,  but  whether  it  should  be  administered 
before  the  eighth  day,  Cyprian  and  a  council  of  sixty-six  African 
bishops  unanimously  decreed  that  the  rite  should  be  denied  to  none, 
even  in  earliest  infancy — Universi  potius  judicavimus,  nulli  hominum 
nato  misericordiam  Dei  et  gratiam  denegandam. — Cypr.  Ep.  59,  ad 
Fidum.  "  And  this,"  says  Augustine,  "  is  no  new  doctrine,  but  of 
apostolic  authority  " — Nee  omnino  credenda,  nisi  apostolica  esse  tra- 
ditio. — De  Genesi  ad  Literam.,  x.  The  later  Fathers  abound  in 
similar  testimonies.  The  infant  children  of  heathen  converts  were 
baptized  immediately,  and   the  older  ones   when   instructed. — Cod, 


I 


534 


The  Catacombs  of  R>me, 


4 

I 


In  course  of  time  the  rite  of  baptism  degenerated  into 
a  superstitious  charm,  and  was  regarded  as  a  mystical 
lustration  which  washed  away  all  sin  and  was  essential 
to  salvation.*  This  change  probably  resulted  from  a 
reaction  against  the  Pelagian  heresy,  which  denied  the 
necessity  of  baptism,  and  from  the  rhetorical  exaggera- 
tion by  the  Fathers  of  the  spiritual  efficacy  of  this  sac- 
rament.f  The  church  of  the  Catacombs,  while  duly 
administering  the  rite  of  baptism,  did  not,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  Church  of  Rome  and  other  modern  extreme 
sacramentalists,  invest  it  with  regenerative  power,  nor 

yustin.,  i,  II,  Leg.  lO.  Orphans,  foundlings,  and  even  the  children 
of  heathens,  received  this  sacred  rite.  At  an  early  period  the  eucha- 
rist  was  administered  to  infants,  which  was  of  necessity  preceded  by 
baptism. 

♦  Hence,  when  a  person  died  unbaptized,  a  living  substitute  some- 
times received  the  rite  in  his  stead.  Fulgentius  indeed  asserts,  that 
unbaptized  children,  even  if  they  die  "  in  uteris  matrum,"  are  pun- 
ished with  everlasting  punishment  in  eternal  fire — ignis  aetemi  sempi- 
terno  supplicio  puniendos. — De  Fide  ad  Petr.,  27.  But  he  alone  of 
the  Fathers  expresses  this  abominable  opinion.  Augustine  and  Am- 
brose, though  insisting  on  the  imp>ortance  of  baptism,  admit  that  the 
faith  and  repentance — fidem  conversionemque  cordis — of  those  who 
die  while  piously  preparing  therefor  may  suffice  in  its  stead. — Aug., 
de  Bap.,  iv,  22. 

f  In  bold  and  unwarrantable  metaphor  some  of  the  Fathers  speak 
of  the  waters  of  baptism  as  changed  in  mystical  transubstantiation 
into  the  very  cleansing  blood  of  Christ. 

The  prevalence  of  the  Montanist  heresy,  which  regarded  as  inex- 
piable all  sins  committed  after  baptism,  led  many  to  postpone  its  re- 
ception, although  this  practice  was  strongly  censured  by  the  church. 
Thus,  Constantine  remained  a  catechumen  till  his  sixty-fifth  year,  and 
received  baptism — " k/ivT/Ori,"  says  Sozomen,  (ii,  34,)  literally,  "was 
initiated," — just  before  his  death.  An  inscription  at  St.  John's  Lat- 
eran  asserts  his  baptism  by   Sylvester  many  years  previously :  CON- 

STANTINVS  PER  CRVCEM  VICTOR  A  S.  SILVESTRO  BAPTIZATVS  CRVCIS 

GLORIAM  PROPAGAVIT :  but  Dr.  Dollinger  has  shown  the  entirely 
mythical  character  of  the  legend. — Fables  respecting  the  Popes,  etc., 
by  Jn.  G,  Ign.  Von  Dollinger.    1872. 


'I 

^1 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions. 


535 


regard  its  involuntary  omission  as  excluding  the  body 
from  consecrated  ground  and  the  soul  from  heaven.* 

Sometimes,  by  a  beautiful  metonyme  derived  from  its 
spiritual  significance,  baptism  is  indicated  as  the  palin- 
genesis, or  new  birth,  of  which  it  is  the  appropriate  sym- 
bol. The  following  is  a  characteristic  example  of  this 
usage  :  .  .  .  caeleste  renatvs  aqva  (j/V) —  ..."  Born 
again  of  heavenly  water,"  (A.  D.  377.)  f  We  read  also 
of  a  certain  Mercurius,  who  is  described  as  a  boy  born 
and  dying  in  the  same  year,  aged  twenty-four.  The 
allusion  is  to  the  spiritual  regeneration  symbolized  by 
baptism.  With  reference  to  this  he  was  but  a  boy — 
puer — at  the  time  of  his  death. {  This  rite  was  also 
called  illumination,  and  we  find  in  the  Catacombs  the 
epitaphs  of  persons  said  to  i>e  thus  "  newly  illuminated." 

The  testimony  of  the  Catacombs  respecting  the  mode 
of  baptism,  as  far  as  it  extends,  is  strongly  in  favour  of 
aspersion.or  affusion.  All  their  pictured  representations 
of  the  rite  indicate  this  mode,  for  which  alone  the  early 
fonts  seem  adapted ;  nor  is  there  any  early  art  evidence  of 
baptismal  immersion.  It  seems  incredible,  if  the  latter 
were  the  original  ?md  exclusive  mode,  of  apostolic 
and  even  Divine  authority,  that  it  should  have  left  no 
trace  in  the  earliest  and  most  unconscious  art-record, 
and  have  been  supplanted  therein  by  a  new,  unscript- 
ural,  and  unhistoric  method.  It  is  apparent,  indeed, 
from  the  writings  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  century,  that 
many  corrupt  and  unwarranted  usages  were  introduced 
in  connection  with  this  Christian  ordinance  that  greutly 


*  See  the  epitaph  of  an  unbaptized  catechumen  already  given. 

f  In  a  Christian  epitaph  from  Aquileia,  of  date  A.  D.  734,  we 
find  the  scriptural  formula — ex  aqua  et  Spu  renatus — '*  born  again  of 
water  and  the  Spirit." — Muratori,  Nov.  Thesaur.,  p.  1849. 

\  See  McCaul,  Christian  Epitaphs,  p.  64. 


1 1 


536 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


marred  its  beauty  and  simplicity.  It  is  unquestionable 
that  at  that  time  baptism  by  immersion  was  practised 
with  many  superstitious  and  unseemly  rites.  The  sub- 
jects, both  men  and  women,  were  divested  of  their 
clothing,  to  represent  the  putting  off  the  body  of  sin ; 
which,  notwithstanding  the  greatest  efforts  to  avoid  it, 
inevitably  provoked  scandal.  They  then  received  trien 
immersion,  to  imitate,  says  Gregory  Nyssen,*  the  three 
days'  burial  of  Christ ;  or,  according  to  others,  as  a  symbol 
of  the  Trinity.  The  rite  was  accompanied  by  exorcism, 
insufflation,  unction,  confirmation,  the  gift  of  milk  and 
honey,  the  administration  of  the  eucharist  even  to  in- 
fants, the  clothing  in  white  garments,  and  carrying  of 
lighted  tapers,  to  all  of  which  a  mystical  meaning  was 
attached. 

But  in  the  evidenc  s  of  the  Catacombs,  which  are  the 
testimony  of  an  earlier  and  purer  period,  there  is  no 
indication  m  this  mode  of  baptism,  nor  of  these  dra- 
matic accompaniments.!  The  marble  font  represented 
in  the  accompanying  engraving,  now  in  the  cryp.s  of  St. 
Prisca  within  the  walls,  is  said  to  have  com€  from  the 

*  De  Bapt.  Christ. 

\  Cyprian  argues  for  the  validity  of  baptism  by  sprinkling,  when 
immersion  is  inconvenient,  as  in  the  case  of  the  sick,  prisoners,  etc., 
as  follows :  "  In  baptism  the  spots  of  sin  are  otherwise  washed  away 
than  is  the  filth  of  the  body  in  u  secular  and  carnal  washing,  in  which 
is  need  of  a  bath,  soap,  and  the  like.  The  heart  of  the  believer  is 
otherwise  washed  ;  the  mind  of  man  is  cleansed  by  the  merit  of  faith  " 
— Neque  enim  sic  in  sacramento  salutari  delictorum  contagia,  ut  in 
iavacro  camali  et  seculari  sordes  cutis  et  coiporis  abluuntur,  etc.— 
Ep.  ad  Magnum. 

Thus,  we  read  that  St.  Lawrence  baptized  with  only  a  pitcher  of 
water — urceum  afferens  cum  aqua — and  by  pouring  water  on  the  head 
of  the  subject — fundit  aquam  super  caput. — Acta  Laurentii.  Ter- 
tullian  also  speaks  of  the  "aspersion  of  water"  in  baptism — aspcr- 
rinem  aquae. — De  Pixnitent.,  6. 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions. 


537 


Fipr.  131. -Baptismal  Font. 


Catacombs,  and  to  have  been  used  for  baptismal  pur- 

I)Oses  by  St.  Petei 

himself;  in  corrob-' 

oration     of    which 

legend  it  bears  the 

somewhat    apocry- 

l)hal     inscription — 

SCI-PET-BAPTISMV. 

(j/V.)  The  tradition 
at  least  attests  its 
extreme  antiquity  ; 
and  its  basin  is 
quite  too  small  for 
even  infant  immer- 
sion. Other  fonts 
have  been  found  in 
several  of  the  sub- 
terranean chapels,  among  which  is  one  in  the  Catacomb 
of  Pontianus,  hewn  out  of  the  solid  tufa  and  fed  by  a 
living  stream.  It  is  thirty-six  inches  long,  thirty-two 
inches  wide,  and  forty  inches  deep,  but  is  seldom  near 
full  of  water.  It  is  obviously  too  small  for  immersion, 
and  was  evidently  designed  for  administering  the  rite  as 
shown  in  the  fresco  which  accompanies  it.  (See  Fig.  132.) 
The  following  inscription,  from  the  Lapidarian  Gallery, 
seems  to  have  come  from  some  such  font,  and  perhaps 
contains  a  reference  to  the  scripture,  "  Arise  and  be 
baptized,  and  wash  away  thy  sins  :"  corporis  et  cordis 

MACVLAS  VITALIS  PVRGAT   ET  OMNE  SIMVL   ABLVIT  VNDA 

— "  The  living  stream  cleanses  the  spots  of  the  body  as 
well  as  the  heart,  and  at  the  same  time  washes  away 
all  (sins)."* 

*  The  so-called  benitiers,  or  holy  water  vessels  of  the  Catacombs, 
were,  it  i?  likely,  \i\  some  cases  at  least,  baptismal  vases.     The  Koin.. 


538 


TJic  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


Figr.  132 —The  Baptism  of  Our  Lord. 

Immediately  over  the  font  in  the  Catacomb  of  Pon- 
tianus  is  the  elaborate  fresco  of  the  baptism  of  Our 
Lord,  figured  above.     He  is  represented   standing  in 

ish  "  holy  water  "  is  probably  copied  from  the  aqua  lustralis  o*"  the 
pagans,  which  stood  at  the  door  of  the  temples,  and  into  which  the 
worshipper  on  entering  and  leaving  dipped  his  fingers.  In  striking 
analogy  to  Romish  usage,  the  pagan  priest  sprinkled  the  multitude 
with  the  holy  dew  by  means  of  an  aspergillum,  or  light  brush- 
Idem  ter  socios  pura  circumtulit  unda 
Spargens  rore  levi. 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions. 


539 


the  river  Jordan,  while  John  pours  water  upon  his  head, 
and  the  Holy  Spirit  descends  in  the  form  of  a  dove. 
An  angel  stands  by  as  witness  of  the  rite,  and  in  the 
foreground  a  stag,  the  emblem  of  a  fervent  Christian, 
is  drinking  at  Sn '  pure  streara.* 

In  a  very  ancient  crypt  of  St.  Lucina  is  another  par- 
tially defaced  baptis;..  of  Christ,  attributed  to  the  sec- 
ond century,  in  which  St.  John  stands  on  the  shore 
and  our  Saviour  in  a  ihallow  stream,  while  the  Holy 
Spirit  descends  as  a  dov^.  On  the  sarcophagus  of  Juni- 
us Bassus  Christ  is  also  symbolically  represented  as  bap- 
tized by  affusion. 
The  annexed 
rude  example 
from  the  Cata- 
comb of  Callix- 
tus,  probably  of 
the  th  ird  century, 
also  clearly  ex- 
hibits the  ad- 
ministration of 
the  rite  by  pour- 
ing.f      It    is   ac- 


^ON 


Fifir>  133.— Baptismal  Scene. 


companied  by  a  representation  of  Peter  striking  water 
from  the  rock,  an  emblem,  according  to  De  Rossi,  of 
the  waters  of  baptism  sprinkling  the   sinful  souls  that 

♦  The  nimbus  and  other  characteristics  indicate  the  comparatively 
!ate  date  of  this  picture.  De  Rossi  thinks  it  not  earlier  than  the  sev- 
enth or  eighth  century.  The  ravages  of  time  snice  the  above  was 
copied  by  Bosio  have  defaced  part  of  the  angel  figure.  In  a  similar 
group  in  a  Latin  MS.,  of  the  ninth  century,  the  river  Jordan  flows 
from  two  vessels  held  by  two  boys.  In  another  group  at  Monza,  of 
the  seventh  century,  the  baptismal  water  pours  from  a  vase  held  in 
the  beak  of  the  divine  dove  upon  the  head  of  Christ. 

f  The  figures  are  a  light  umber,  the  falling  water  a  pale  blue. 


t   'U 


i 


540 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


I 

i!  : 


come  thereto.     A  similar   example   also  occurs  in  the 
cemetery  of  St.  Praetextatus. 

In  ancient  sarcophagal  reliefs  in  the  Vatican  are 
representations  of  small  detached  baptisteries  of  cir- 
cular form,  crowned  with  the  Constantinian  monogram. 
These  were  necessarily  of  sufficient  size  to  accommo- 
date the  number  of  persons  who  were  baptized  at  one 
time,  generally  at  Easter,*  and  were  placed  outside  of 
the  basilica  to  indicate  the  initiatory  character  of  baptism 
as  the  entrance  to  the  church  of  Christ.f  In  the  early 
mosaics  representing  baptismal  scenes,  the  rite  is  invari- 
ably administered  by  affusion,  as  in  the  baptistery  of 
San  Giovanni  at  Ravenna,  in  the  begin.ning  of  the  fifth 
century,  in  Sta.  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  at  Ravenna,  in  the 
beginning,  and  in  the  ivory  relief  on  the  episcopal  chair 
of  Maximinus,  at  the  end,  of  the  sixth  century.;];     So, 

*  The  neophytes  laid  aside  their  white  baptismal  robes,  or  albs,  on 
the  Sunday  after  Easter,  hence,  called  Dominica  in  albis.  In  the  fol- 
lowing inscription  Pascasius,  a  neophyte  of  six  years,  is  said  to  have 
received  baptism  on  Easter  eve,  and  to  have  laid  aside  his  albs  one 
week  thereafter  in  the  tomb :  percepit  xi  kal.   maias  et  aluas  svas 

OCTABAS  {sic)  PASCAE  {sic)  AD  SEPVLCHRVM  DEPOSVIT.    (A.  D.  463.) 

Dr.  McCaul  notes  a  striking  analogy  to  Christian  forms  of  expres- 
sion in  an  epitaph  describing  pagan  initiation  :  arcanis  perfvsioni- 
BVS  IN  AETERNVM  RENATVS — "  Bom  eternally  by  secret  sprinklings," 
The  sprinkling  was  that  of  the  blood  of  a  bull  or  ram,  dripping  on 
the  bodies  of  the  recipients  of  the  lustration  through  perforations  in 
a  platform  beneath  which  they  stood. — Christian  Epitaphs,  p.  57. 

f  Although  these  in  after  times  became  vast  buildings,  with  ample 
provision  for  baptismal  immersion,  in  the  earlier  ages  they  were  quite 
small ;  and,  according  to  Smith's  Classical  Dictionary,  the  baptister- 
ium  was  "not  a  bath  sufficiently  large  to  immerse  the  whole  bodj', 
but  a  vessel  or  labrum  containing  cold  water  for  pouring  on  the  head." 
— Art.,  Baths,  Eusebius  speaks  of  baptisteries  without  the  church 
"for  those  who  require  yet  the  purification  and  the  sprinklings 
{■K€pi{)(}avTripLov)  of  water  and  the  Holy  Spirit." — E.  H.,  x,  4. 

J  I  am  indebted  for  these  references  to  the  Rev.  Prof.  Bennett, 
D.l).,  of  Syracuse  University,  late  of  Berlin,  Prussia. 


Primitive  Rites  ami  Institution!;. 


541 


the 


also,  a  later  example  in  the  Lateran  basilica  represents 
Constantine  kneeling  naked  in  a  laver,  and  Sylvester 
pouring  water  on  his  head.*  This  is  also  the  method 
indicated  in  several  medals,  has  reliefs,  frescoes,  and  mo- 
saics, in  almost  every  century  from  the  fourth,  through 
the  Middle  Ages,  indicating  a  continuous  tradition,  even 
when  immersion  may  have  been  practised,  of  a  different 
mode  of  baptism. 

The  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  the  most 
sacred  and  consoling  rite  of  the  primitive  church.  It 
was  a  once  the  emblem  of  the  Christian's  highest  hopes, 
and  the  sublime  commemoration  of  the  ineffable  sacri- 
fice on  which  those  hopes  depend.  It  was  the  focus  in 
which  concentrated  all  their  holiest  thoughts,  kindling 
the  whole  soul  into  a  flame  of  adoring  love.f  It  was  the 
central  act  of  worship,  around  which  all  their  solemn 
devotions  gathered,  and  to  which  they  all  looked. 
The  sublime  thought  of  the  atonement  of  Christ  and 
of  salvation  through  his  death,  shone  ever  star-like  over 
their  souls,  illumining  even  the  sepulchral  gloom  of 
these  subterranean  crypts.  Daily,!  ^r  as  often  as  the 
vigilance  of  their  foes  in  times  of  persecution  would 


'  S\ 


*  Ciampini,  Tab.  ii,  Figs.  3,  4. 

f  In  later  times  the  devout  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  thus  eulogizes 
the  eucharst :  "  It  is,"  he  exclaims,  "  the  medicine  of  the  sick,  the 
way  of  the  wandering  ;  it  comforts  the  feeble  and  delights  the  strong  ; 
it  cures  disease  and  preserves  health  ;  it  makes  man  more  submissive 
to  correction,  stronger  to  labour,  more  ardent  to  love,  wiser  in  fore- 
sight, prompter  in  obedience,  more  devout  in  thanksgiving.  It  ab- 
solves from  sin,  destroys  the  power  of  Satan,  gives  strength  for 
martyrdom,  and,  in  fine,  brings  every  good." — Costeri.  Instittit.  C/ir., 
lib.  i,  c.  6.  It  was  also  described  as  "  the  bread  of  angels,  spiritual  food, 
the  life  of  the  soul,  the  perpetual  health  of  the  mind,  the  antidote  "of 
sin,  and  pledge  of  future  glory." 

:|:Alicubiquotidiealicubicertis  interval  lis  dierum. — Aug.,  7V.,26,i« 
Johan.     It  was.  in  a  special  sense,  the  "daily  bread  of  the  soul." 


542 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


permit,  the  faithful  met  in  the  silent  halls  of  death,  far 
from  the  "  madding  crowd's  ignoble  strife,"  to  nourish 
and  strengthen  their  souls  for  fiery  trial,  and  often  for 
the  red  baptism  of  martyrdom,  by  meditation  on  the 
passion  of  their  Lord  and  partaking  of  the  emblems  of 
his  death. 

Therefore,  in  ever-recurring  and  appropriate  symbol- 
ism, was  this  holy  rite  set  forth  upon  the  walls  of  the 
Catacombs.  Its  direct  representation,  however,  was 
carefully  avoided  ;  and  its  sacred  meaning  was  hidden 
from  the  profane  gaze  of  the  heathen  under  a  veil  of 
allegory  and  emblem,  which  was,  nevertheless,  instinct 
with  prcfoundest  significance  to  the  initiated.  Thus, 
we  find  representations  of  seven  men  eating  bread  and 
fish,  which  are  interpreted  as  the  repast  of  the  disciples 
by  the  sea-shore  when  Our  Lord  manifested  himself  in 
the  breaking  of  bread,  and,  indirectly,  as  symbols  of 
the  holy  eucharist.*  They  are  not  at  all  analogous  to 
the  pictures  of  pagan  funeral  banquets,  to  which  they 
have  been  compared,  but  which  are  entirely  foreign  to 
Christian  thought.  The  miracles  of  turning  water  into 
wine,  and  of  the  multiplication  of  the  loaves,  were  also  re- 
garded as  types  of  the  eucharist,  which  was,  doubtless,  fre- 
quently symbolized  under  these  figures.  We  have  seen  a 
copy  of  the  remarkable  fresco,  twice  repeated  in  the  Cat- 
acomb of  St.  Lucina,  of  a  fish  bearing  a  basket  of  bread 
on  its  back,  and  in  the  midst  what  seems  to  be  a  chalice 
of  wine.f  This  is  considered  one  of  the  most  ancient 
emblems  of  this  sacred  rite.  This  view  derives  singular 
corroboration  from  a  passage  in  Jerome,  which  speaks  of 
carrying  the  body  of  Christ  in  a  basket  made  of  twigs, 

*  "  Christ  who  suffered  is  the  fish  which  was  broiled,"  says  St.  Au- 
gustine— Piscis  assus,  Christus  passus. 
f  See  Fig.  54- 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions. 


543 


and  his  blood  in  a  chalice  of  glass.*  The  cucharist  is 
also  evidently  symbolized  in  the  representations  of  fish 
and  sheep  carrying  small  loaves  of  bread  in  their  mouths. 
These  are  sometimes  marked  with  a  decussate  cross, 
as  was  done  to  facilitate  fracture  during  administration. 
The  first  Christian  altars  were  tables  of  wood,  which, 
in  times  of  persecution,  could  be  easily  removed  from 
house  to  house  in  which  worship  was  celebrated.  The 
entire  absence  of  any  thing  corresponding  to  the  pagan 
sacrificial  altar  was  made  the  subject  of  heathen  re- 
proach.f  In  a  painting  found  in  the  Catacomb  of  Cal- 
lixtus,  which  Dr.  Northcote  describes  as  "  the  sacrifice 
of  the  Mass,  symbolically  depicted,"  a  man  stands  with 
hands  outstretched,  as  if  in  act  of  consecration,  over  a 
three-legged  table,  on  which  are  bread  and  a  fish,  while 
opposite  stands  a  female  figure  in  the  attitude  of  prayer. 
In  an  adjoining  chamber  a  precisely  similar  table  is 
represented,  but  without  the  accompanying  figures.^ 
These  tables  were  placed,  not  against  the  wall  like  a 
Romish  altar,  but  set  out  from  it,  so  that  the  ministrant 
could  stand  behind  it  looking  toward  the  congregation. 

*  Nihil  illo  ditius,  qui  corpus  Domini  canistro  vimineo,  sanguinem 
portat  in  vitro. — Ep.  4,  ad  Rustic.  The  communion  was  thus  con- 
veyed to  those  who  through  sickness  were  absent  from  its  public  cel- 
ebration. 

f  Cur  nuUas  aras  habent ? — Minuc,  Octav.  Non  altaria  fabricemus, 
non  aras. — Amob.,  Contr.  Gentes.  The  Christian  altars  were  called  in- 
differently, Altare,  ara  Dei,  mensa  Domini. 

X  In  the  Lateran  basilica,  which  is  claimed  as  the  head  and 
mother  of  all  the  churches  of  Rome — caput  et  mater  omnium  ecclesia- 
rttm — is  an  altar  which  tradition  asserts  St.  Peter  made  with  his  own 
hands,  and  employed  for  the  administration  of  the  Holy  Sacrament 
The  legend  attests  at  least  an  ancient  opinion  as  to  primitive 
usage.  Originally  only  one  altar  was  permissible  in  a  church,  but 
under  Romish  influence  the  number  increased  to  as  many  as  twenty- 
five,  as  at  St.  Peter's. 


544 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


III  the  "papal  crypt"  of  the  Callixtan  Catacomb  the 
sockets  for  the  four  feet  of  the  table  thus  set  out  from 
the  wall  are  distinctly  visible,  and  Bosio  and  Boldetti 
both  found  examples  of  altars  standing  in  the  middle 
of  the  cubicula.  This  was  also  their  position  in  the  old- 
est basilicas  of  Rome. 

In  the  sixth  century  a  general  council  decreed  that 
r*?e  altars  should  be  of  stone.  This  transition  had  al- 
rji.dy  taken  place  in  the  Catacombs,  and  arose  from  the 
empl:yment  of  the  slab  covering  the  grave  in  an  area- 
solium  for  the  administration  of  the  eucharist.  This 
practice  led  to  an  increased  veneration  for  the  relics 
of  the  saints ;  and  soon  the  presence  of  these  relics 
became  essential  to  the  idea  of  an  altar.*  To  this 
custom  Prudentius  refers  in  his  hymn  for  Hippolytus' 

day. 

"  Ilia  sacramenti  donatrix  mensa,  eademque 

Gustos  fida  sui  martyris  apposita : 
Se'rvat  ad  JEterni  spem  Judicis  ossa  sepulchre 

Pascit  item  Sanctis  Tibricolas  dapibus. 
Mira  loci  piptas,  et  prompta  precantibus  ara." 

"  That  slab  gives  the  sacrament,  and  at  the  same  time  faithfully 
guards  the  martyr's  remains ;  it  preserves  his  bones  in  the  sepulchre 
in  hope  of  the  Eternal  Judge,  and  feeds  the  dwellers  by  the  Tiber 
with  sacred  food.  Great  is  the  sanctity  of  the  place,  and  it  offers  a 
ready  altar  for  those  who  pray." 

After  the  consecration  of  the  elements  by  the  pres- 
byter or  bishop,  the  communion  in  both  kinds  was  ad- 
ministered to  the  faithful  by  the  deacons  in  the  formula 
of  its  institution  which  we  still  use.f     The  consecrated 


*  In  three  or  four  instances  bronze  rings  arc  attached  to  the  slab,  as 
if  to  r/ilow  its  removal  fi^-  a  second  interment,  or  perhaps  to  give  a 
view  of  the  relics  of  the  saint. 

f  Tertullian  carefully  guards  against  the  literal  interpretation  of  the 
words  of  Christ,  "  This  is  my  body,"  by  the  addition,  "  that  is,  a  fig* 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions. 


545 


elements*  were  sent  to  any  who  were  sick,  by  the  hands 
of  deacons  or  acolytes,  as  is  still  the  practice  in  the 
Greek  and  Armenian  churches.  In  the  Act  )f  St.  Ste- 
phen, we  read  of  a  young  martyr  who  chose  to  be  beaten 
to  death  by  a  Roman  mob,  rather  than  disclose  the 
sacred  treasure  entrusted  to  his  care.  This  practice  in 
time  degenerated  into  the  superstitious  administration 
of  the  viaticum  as  a  preparation  for  the  soul's  journey 
to  the  spirit-world.  Some  of  the  gilt  glasses,  before 
described,  are  thought  to  have  been  used  as  patens  and 
chalices  for  the  celebra  or  of  the  eucharist.  Witn  the 
increasing  wealth  an'^  rnv.-e  gorgeous  ritual  of  the 
church,  gold  and  silver  vessels,  adorned  with  costly 
gems  and  rarest  work  nanship,  took  the  place  of  the 
humbler  material  o^  the  primitive  ages.f 

Another  beautiful  mstitution  generally  associated  with 
the  celebration  of  the  eucharist  in  primitive  times  is 
that  of  the  agape^  or  love-feast.  In  a  subterranean 
chapel  in  the  Catacomb  of  Marcellinus  and  Peter  is  an 


ureof  my  body  " — figura  corporis  mei. — Adv.  Marc,  iv,  40.  Augus- 
tine and  others  of  the  Fathers  also  discriminate  between  Christ's 
spiritual  and  corporeal  presence. 

*  They  were  called  eulogia,  that  is,  blessing  or  benediction.  In  the 
Jewish  cemetery  is  a  representation  of  sacred  loaves,  probably  pass- 
over  cakes,  marked  EYAOriA.  The  Christian  representation  of  a 
cup  doubtless  frequently  refers  to  the  "  cup  of  blessing  " — To  irori^fuov 
T^f  evXoyiag — mentioned  by  St.  Paul. — I  Cor.  x,  16. 

f  There  is  not  in  the  whole  range  of  early  Christian  epigraphy  the 
slightest  indication  of  the  Romish  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation  ; 
which,  indeed,  as  Dr.  Mailland  remarks,  "  was  not  distinctly  broached 
till  the  ninth  century."  Some  of  the  earlier  poets,  however,  and  the 
more  rhetorical  of  the  Fathers,  allude  to  a  mystical  presence  of  Christ 
in  the  eucharist,  bordering  on  the  modern  Romish  conception. 

The  council  of  Elvira  forbade  the  acceptance  of  any  gift  for  the 
administration  of  tlie  sacraments.  How  different  from  Rome's  mer- 
cenary tariff  for  the  celebration  of  masses  for  the  dead  ! 

35 


546 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome, 


exceedingly  interesting  representation  of  the  observance 
of  this  custom,  shown  in  the  following  engraving. 


FifiT.  134.— Ancient  Afirape. 

Three  guests,  it  will  be  perceived,  sit  at  the  semicir- 
cular table,  at  the  ends  of  which  preside  two  matrons 
personifying  peace  and  love,  with  their  names  written 
above  their  heads.  An  attendant  supplies  them  with 
food  from  a  small  table  in  front,  on  which  are  a  cup, 
platters,  and  a  lamb.  The  inscriptions,  according  to 
Dr.  Maitland,  should  be  expanded  thus :  irene  da  cal- 
da[m  aqvam] — "  Peace,  give  hot  water ;  "  and  agape 
MiscE  MI  [viNVM  cvM  aqva] — "  Lovc,  mix  me  wine  with 
water ;  "  the  allusion  being  to  the  ancient  custom  of 
tempering  wine  with  water,  hot  or  cold. 

Numerous  other  representations  of  this  devout  feast 
at  which  Love  and  Peace  preside  attest  its  general  ob- 
servance. It  would  be  a  touching  symbol  of  Christian 
unity  to  the  persecuted  saints,  and  would  unite  still 
closer  hearts  bound  together  by  common  dangers  and 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions. 


547 


a  common  hope.  All  the  distinctions  of  rank  were  then 
forgotten.  Gathering  by  stealth  in  these  subterranean 
crypts  from  the  imperial  palace  and  the  lowly  abode  of 
poverty,  they  break  bread  together  in  the  solemn  pres- 
ence of  the  dead  in  token  of  their  common  brotherhood 
in  Christ.  The  slave  of  a  Roman  master,  but  the  freed- 
man  of  Christ,  and  the  patrician  convert,  the  intellec- 
tual Greek  and  the  once  bigoted  Jew,  together 

Celebrate  the  feast  of  love, 
Antedate  the  joys  above. 

This  beautiful  institution,  first  mentioned  by  Jude  as 
the  "feasts  of  charity,"*  was  usually  observed  in  con- 
nexion with  the  eucharist,  though  not  necessarily  a  part 
of  it.  It  dates  from  the  earliest  period  of  the  church, f 
and  its  corruptions  among  the  Corinthians  called  forth 
the  sharp  rebuke  of  the  Apostle  Paul. J 

Tertullian  thus  describes  its  character  in  the  second 
century:  "Our  supper,  which  you  accuse  of  luxury, 
shows  its  reason  by  its  very  name  ;  for  it  is  called  agape^ 
which,  among  the  Greeks,  signifies  love.  It  admits  of 
nothing  vile  or  immodest.  We  eat  and  drink  only  as 
much  as  hunger  and  thirst  demand,  mindful  that  the 
evening  is  to  be  spent  in  the  worship  of  God.  We  so 
speak  as  knowing  that  God  hears.  After  washing  our 
hands  and  bringing  lights,  each  is  asked  to  sing  to  God 
according  to  his  ability,  either  from  Scripture  or  from 
his  own  mind.  Prayer  also  concludes  the  feast."  §  He 
calls  it  also  a  supper  of  philosophy  and  discipline,  rather 
than  a  corporeal  feast.  At  the  close  collections  were 
made  for  widows  and  orphans  and  for  the  poor,  many 
of  whom  would  be  thrown  out  of  employment  by  their 

*  Ta?f  uyun-atf. — ^Jude,  12.     f  Acts  ii,46  ;  vi,  2.      t  I  Cor.  xi,  16-34. 

§  Ita  saturantur,  ut  qui  meminerunt  etiam  pe     toctem  adorandiun 

sibi  esse  ;  ita  fabulantur,  ut  qui  sciunt  Dominum  audire. — ApoL,  39. 


548 


The  Catacombs  of  Route, 


renunciation  of  idolatrous  trades;  also  for  prisoners  and 
for  persons  who  had  suffered  shipwreck.*  It  is  doubtless 
the  a^i^ape  which  IMiny  describes  as  "  the  common  and 
harmless  meal"f  of  the  Christians,  and  at  which,  ac- 
cording to  I.ucian,  their  '*  sacred  conversations"!  were 
held.  Clement  of  Alexandria  calls  the  a^ape  "the 
banquet  of  reason,  a  celestial  food,  and  the  supper  of 
love;  the  pledge  and  proof  of  mutual  affection." § 

The  primitive  church  carefully  guarded  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  eucharist  and  ai::;ape  from  the  pryii  gs  of  idle 
curiosity  or  the  perfidy  of  heathen  malevolence,  lest 
the  name  of  God  should  be  blasphemed,  or  the  goodly 
pearls  of  salvation  be  tram|)led  beneath  swinish  feet. 
But  this  very  secresy  and  mystery  became  the  occasion 
of  the  vilest  slanders  and  asj)ersions.  The  Christians 
were  accused  of  celebrating  these  rites  with  the  most 
abominable  orgies — feasling  on  human  flesh  and  infants' 
blood,  and  committing  nameless  crimes  of  still  deeper 
dye.  "They  charge  us,"  say  the  martyrs  of  Lyons, 
"with  feasts  of  Thyestes,  and  the  crimes  of  CEdipus, 
and  such  abominations  as  are  neither  lawful  for  us  to 
speak  nor  think."  The  blameless  believers  were  de- 
nounced as  the  very  dregs  of  society,  a  skulking  and 
darkness-loving  race,  meeting  by  night  for  profane  con- 
juration and  unhallowed  banquets,  as  despisers  of  the 
gods,  haters  of  mankind,  and  mockers  at  holy  things. 


♦  Jus.  Mar.,  Apol.,  ii ;  Sociat.,  Eccl.  Hist.^  v,  22 ;  Orig.,  in  Ep.  ad 
Rom.y  xvi,  i6. 

f  Cibum  promiscuum  et  innoxium. — Ep.,  lib.  x,  ad  Traj. 

\  lepol  Xoyoi. — Peregrinus. 

%  Pcedag.,  ii. 

I  Qui  de  ultima  faece  collectis  imperitioribus  et  mulieribus  credulis 
sexus  sui  facilitate  labentibus,  plebem  profanae  conjurationis  institu- 
unt :  quae  nocturnis  congregationibus  et  jejuniis  solennibus  et  inhu- 
manis  cibis   non  sacro  quodain  seil  piaculo  foederantur,  latebrosa  et 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions. 


549 


and  were  confounded  with  pestilent  sorcerers  who 
in  midnight  caves  practiced  their  foul  incantations 
against  human  Hf»*.*  These  accusations  arose  partly, 
it  is  probable,  from  distorted  accounts  of  the  holy 
communion  of  the  body  and  the  blood  of  Christ, 
interpreted  as  a  literal  partaking  of  the  corporeal  sub- 
stance ;  partly  from  the  vile  practices  of  the  Carpocra- 
tians  and  other  heretics;  but  chieP.y  from  the  malice 
of  the  heathen  themselves,  iudging  the  character  of  the 
Christian  mysteries  from  the  obscene  orgies  of  Venus 
and  Bacchus. 

TertuUian  indignantly  resents  the  vile  calumnies,  and 
shows  them  to  be  monstrous  and  absurd.  "  We  are 
daily  beset  by  foes,"  he  exclaims,  "we  are  daily  be- 
trayed, we  are  often  surprised  in  our  secret  congrega- 
tions; yet  who  ever  came  upon  a  half-consumed  corpse 
among  us,  or  any  other  corroborations  of  the  accusa- 
tions against  us."*"!  He  retorts  upon  the  heathen  the 
charge  of  infanticide,  human  sacrifice,  and  unnatural 
crimes,  and  contrasts  therewith  the  purity  of  the  Chris- 
tian character.  Minucius  Felix  also  attests  the  mod- 
est and  sober  character  of  the  Christian  feasts,  which 
they  celebrated  with  chaste  discourse  and  chaster 
bodies.| 

In  course  of  time  the  agapce  lost  in  great  measure 
their  religious  character,  and  were  employed  for  the 
anniversaries    of    the  martyrs,  and    for   marriage   and 

lucifugax  natio  . . .  deos  despuunt,  rident  sacra. — Minuc.  Felix,  Octav. 
Odio  humani  generis  convicti  sunt. — Tac,  Ann.,  xv.  44. 

*  Malifica  superstitio. — Suet.,  Neron.,  16.     Comp.  Hor.,  Sat.,  i,8. 

f  Quotidie  obsidemur,  quotidie  prodir  r,  in  ipsis  plurimum  cceti- 
buscongregationibus  nostris  opprimimur.  ,  aisunquam  talitervagienti 
infanti  supervenit? — Apol.,  c.  7  ;  comp.     .  Nat.,  i,  10-15. 

X  Casto  sermone,  corpora  castiore. — Minuc,  Octav. ;  comp.  Orig., 
Cont.  Cels.,  vi.,  Jus.  Mar.,  Apol.,  i,  2. 


550 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


If 


W 


funeral  occasions.*  They  were  still  further  desecrated 
by  their  substitution  for  pagan  festivals,  in  order,  as  St. 
Augustine  remarks,  "  that  the  heathen  might  feast  with 
their  former  luxury,  though  without  their  former  sac- 
rilege."! These  "pious  hilarities"  thus  degenerated, 
in  the  fourth  .ind  fifth  centuries,  into  convivial  banquets 
and  wanton  revelry — a  scandal  and  disgrace  to  Christen- 
dom, and  provoked  the  indignant  censure  of  the  Fathers. 
"It  is  abs  ird,"  says  St.  Jerome,  "to  honour  with  feast- 
ing the  sainti,  who  pleased  God  with  their  fasts."  St. 
Augustine  vehemently  condemns  those  "  who  inebriate 
them  ,elves  in  honour  of  the  martyrs,  and  place  even 
their  gluttony  and  drunkenness  to  the  account  of  re- 
ligion."! "These  drunkards  persecute  the  saints  as 
much  with  their  cups,"  he  says,  "  as  the  furious  pagans 
did  with  stones.  '  §  The  good  bishop  of  Nola,  greatly 
scandalized  at  these  semi-pagan  revelries,  painted  with 
holy  pictures  the  church  of  St.  Felix,  that  3s  the  igno- 
rant peasants  gazed  more  they  might  drink  the  less.  It 
has  been  suggested  that  probably  the  pious  figures  in 
the  gilt  glasses  of  the  Catacombs  were  designed  for  the 
same  purpose ;  but  many  of  their  mottoes  were  of  a 
highly  convivial  character,  calculated  rather  to  promote 
the  revelry  in  which  they  were  doubtlessly  employed. 
Both  the  natalitia  and  the  agapce  at  length  became  so 
obnoxious  in  character  as  to  excite  the  taunts  of  the 

*  Agapae  natalitiae,  agapse  connubiales,  and  agapoe  funerales. 
The  pagans,  not  un  laturally,  regarded  the  latter,  like  their  own  funeral 
banquets,  as  designed  to  appease  the  manes  of  the  dead.  They  would 
doubtless  think  the  same  of  the  modern  mortuary  masses. 

f  Non  simili  sacrilegio,  quamvis  simili  luxu  celebrarentur. — Aug., 
Ep.,  29. 

\  Qui  se  in  memoriis  martyrum  inebriant. — Aug.,  Cont.  Faust.,  xx, 
21.  Voracitates  ebrietatesque  suas  deputant  religioni. — De  Morib. 
Eccl.y  i,  34.  §  Enarr.,  in  Psa.  lix. 


Primitive  Rites  and  Institutions. 


551 


pagans  and  the  condemnation  of  the  more  devout  and 
thoughtful  Christians.  The  abuse  of  the  latter  beauti- 
ful institution  became  so  intolerable  that  it  became  the 
object  of  repressive  decrees  of  successive  councils  till 
it  was  finally  abolished.  The  council  of  Elvira  (A.  D. 
305)  prudently  forbade  the  presence  of  females  at  these 
nocturnal  meetings  in  the  Catacombs,*  That  of  Lao- 
dicea  (A.  D.  361)  enacted  that  the  agapce  should  not 
be  celebrated  in  churches.  The  council  of  Carthage 
(A.  D.  397)  forbade  the  clergy  attending  them,  and 
the  council  of  Trullo  (A,  D.  706)  prohibited  their  cel- 
ebration at  all,  under  penalty  of  excommunication. 

This  beautiful  symbol  of  Christian  unity  was  revived 
in  spirit  by  the  founder  of  Methodism ;  but,  to  guard 
against  the  corruptions  into  which  it  had  previously 
fallen,  the  elements  of  its  celebration  were  restricted 
to  bread  and  water.  A  similar  custom  is  also  observed 
among  the  Moravian  brethren,  from  whom,  probably, 
Wesley  borrowed  it.  It  has  also  been  transmitted  from 
primitive  times  by  the  Nestorian  Christians  of  the  Mal- 
abar coast. t 

We  have  thus  endeavoured  to  give  a  faithful  tran- 
script of  the  testimony  of  the  Catacombs  relative  to 
primitive  Christianity.  We  have  seen  how  consonant  it 
is  with  the  teachings  of  Holy  Scripture,  how  opposed  to 
all  the  institutions  and  dogmas  of  Rome.  We  have 
only  to  compare  the  buried  relics  of  the  past  with  the 
living  present  abov^i  ground  to  see  at  a  glance  the  in- 


*  Placuit  prohiberi,  ne  foeminse  in  coemeteriis  pervigilent,  eo  quod 
ssep^  sub  obtentu  religionis  latenter  scelera  committunt. 

I  Among  other  traces  of  primitive  Christianity  among  the  latter 
are  their  married  clergy  and  abhorrence  of  images.  "  We  are  Chris- 
tians, not  idolaters,"  they  said  to  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  who  pre- 
sented for  their  homage  images  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 


552 


The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 


finite  contrast  between  the  church  of  Christ  and  that 
of  Antichrist.  Could  the  simple  bishops  of  the  primi- 
t've  ages  behold  the  more  than  regal  state  and  oriental 
pomp  in  which,  surrounded  by  armed  halberdiers,  amid 
the  blare  of  martial  music  and  thunder  of  the  guns  of 
St.  Angelo,  their  successor  of  to-day  rides  in  his  golden 
chariot  from  his  stately  palace  to  the  majestic  fane  of 
St.  Peter — the  grandest  temple  in  the  world — they  would 
feel  it  difficult  to  perceive  therein  any  resemblance  to 
their  own  humble  and  often  persecuted  estate,  or  to  the 
pure  and  spiritual  religion  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Naz- 
arene.  Could  they  witness  the  almost  idolatrous  hom- 
age which  he  receives,  throned  in  :-tate,  tiaraed  with  a 
triple  crown,  presenting  his  foot  for  the  humiliating 
osculation  of  bishops,  cardinals,  ambassadors,  and  pil- 
grims from  every  land ;  could  they  behold  him  summon- 
ing from  the  ends  of  the  earth  the  prelates  of  Roman 
Catholic  Christendom  to  record  a  decree  of  his  per- 
sonal infallibility  and  freedom  from  human  error ;  they 
would  regard  as  blasphemous  these  unhallowed  assump- 
tions, and  denounce,  as  the  prophetic  Antichrist,  him 
who  laid  claim  to  these  awful  attributes.* 

Above  the  lowly  sleepers  in  the  crypts  of  the  Vatican 
swells  the  mighty  dome  which  Michael  Angelo  hung 
high  in  air;  lofty  chant  and  pealing  anthem  thrill 
through  the  vast  expanse ;  polished  shafts  of  porphyry. 


*  The  name  of  Pius  is  substiuited  for  Deus  in  one  well-known 
Latin  hymn.  Another  pentecostal  hymn  to  the  Holy  Spirit  is  ad- 
dressed directly  to  the  present  pontift'.  The  growth  of  this  dogma 
of  infallibility,  the  distinguished  French  ecclesiastic,  Pere  Gratry,  as- 
.serts,  "  was  utterly  gangrened  with  imposture."  The  stultification 
of  the  human  intellect  was  never  more  strikingly  exemplified  than  in 
the  dictum  of  Bellarmine :  Vera  sunt  vera  at  falsa  sunt  falsa ;  sed  si 
ecclesia  dixit  vera  esse  falsa  et  falsa  esse  vera,  falsa  sunt  vera  et  vera 
sunt  falsa. 


Priniitke  Rites  and  histitutions. 


553 


jasper,  and  costliest  marble  gleam  around  ;  priceless 
paintings  and  raresc  sculpture  by  the  hand  of  genius  af- 
ford a  still  richer  adorning ;  at  an  altar  blazing  with  gold 
and  gems  a  human  priest  in  many-coloured  vestments 
daily  repeats,  as  he  dares  assert,  the  ineffable  sacrifice 
of  Christ;  from  four  hundred  cross-crowned  camj)aniles 
baptized  and  consecrated  bells  ring  forth  the  hours  of 
prayer;  at  a  thousand  shrines  the  multitude  adore,  they 
vainly  think,  the  real  presence  of  the  Redeemer;  and 
perfumed  incense  evermore  ascends,  not  to  the  many 
gods  of  the  Pantheon,  but  to  the  still  more  numerous 
saints  of  the  Roman  calendar.  But  we  feel  that  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  all  the  glory  of  them,  were 
a  poor  compensation  for  the  loss  of  the  primitive  sim- 
plicity, purity,  and  spiritual  power  of  the  humble  service 
of  the  Catacombs.  We  turn  away  from  the  gorgeous 
ritual  and  hollow  pomp  to  those  lowly  crypts  where  the 
Christian  hymn  of  a  persecuted  remnant  of  the  saints 
ascended  from  beside  the  martyr's  grave,  as  the  truer 
type  of  Christ's  spiritual  temple  upon  earth.  In  these 
chambers  of  silence  and  gloom  we  find  the  evidences  of 
that  undying  life  of  Christianity  which  we  seek  in  vain 
amid  the  living  death  of  that  city  of  churches  and  of 
priests — the  Apostolic  See  of  Christendom — the  vaunted 
seat  of  Christ's  vicegerent  upon  earth.  With  a  deeper 
significance  than  that  with  which  it  was  first  uttered,  we 
adopt  the  language  of  TertuUian,  and  exclaim,  id  esse 

VERUM,  QUODCUNQUE  PRIMUM ;  ID  ESSE  ADULTERUM, 
QUODCUNQUE  POSTERIUS.* 

*  Adv.  Praxean, 


:v  t 


■  .i^i;     '.t  ity<tj\  . 


INDEX. 


Abraham,  frescoes  of,  289 

Acclamations  to  the  departed, 
441-443  ;  pagan  do.,  444. 

Acolyte^,  517, 

Adam,  fall  of,  224  ;  receiving  sen- 
tence, 225. 

Adornment,  female,  497,  498. 

Agape,  the,  545  ;  abuse  of,  550 ; 
suppressed,  551. 

A^nes,  St.,  Catacomb  of,  192-197  ; 
legend  of,  192.  193. 

Altar,  543,  544  ;  altar  lights,  ori- 
gin of,  378,  379. 

Amphitheatre,  games  of,  488  ; 
suppressed,  489. 

Ampullae,  or  blood  cups  (?),  369. 

Anchor,  symbolical,  234. 

Anthropomorphism,  352-361. 

Appian  Way,  164-166. 

Arcosolia,  25,  30. 

Anas,  sepulchral,  37,  56,  note  f, 
168-171, 183  ;  pagan  do,,  59,  60. 

Arenaria,  38-44,  197,  190. 

Art,  early  Christian,  203,  et  seq.  ; 
compared  with  pagan  do.,  205, 
209-213.  391,  392,  480;  first 
employment  of,  206,  208 ; 
sprang  out  of  pagan  ''o.,  206- 
208  ;  character  of,  210,  211  ; 
pagan  influence  in,  210-214, 
240-243,  303,  364,  388,  391. 
480.  505  ;  becomes  florid,  220 ; 
avoidance  of  passion  of  Christ 
or  martyrs,  227,  273,  274  ;  joy- 
ous character  of,  228  ;  symbol- 
ism in,  325,  et  seq.,  see  "  Sym- 
bols"; Virgin  Mary  in,  see 
"Mary";  Christ  in,  see 
'•Christ";  God  and  Holy 
Ghost  in,  see  "  Anthropomor- 
phism" ;  domestic  ait,  364-366. 

Autun,  ichthyic  inscription  at, 
257-259. 


Baptism,  532-541 ;  subjects  of, 
532 ;  patristic  evidence  con- 
cerning, 533,  note  ;  mode  of, 
535,  ci  seq. 

Biblical  Cycle,  282,  et  seq.  ;  sub- 
jects   of,    see     Figs.    62-103  »  , 
grouping  of  subjects,  283,  339, 
340  ;  relative    frequency  of  oc- 
currence, 341,  note  *. 

Bishops,  507-511,  524,  525  ;  com- 
pared with  presbyters,  508,  note 
*,  511,  note  I;  sec  "Martyr 
Bishops,"  and  "  Pope." 

Bosio,  152-155. 

Burial  clubs,  pa^an,  66-68  ;  Chris- 
tian, 68-70. 

Burial  near  martyis,  supposed  ef- 
ficacy of,  irj8-i;2. 

Burial,  subterranea;, why  adopted, 
50,  54  ;  discontinued,  122  ;  tem- 
porary    -tunv  i'\  122,  123. 

Cain  an:'     .bc\.    ."85. 

Callixt  Jatacomb  0^167-183; 
histoi_y  of,  173. 

Carpent*-.    implements  of,  231. 

Catacombs,  '^■•' >•-;  n  of  word,  il, 
note  ;  I'escriijtd  by  Prudentius, 
II,  124  ,  by  Jerome,  34  ;  present 
appearance  of,  12,  et  seq.,  37, 
44,  45,  195  ;  associations  of,  13, 
14,  45,  46,  201  ;  extent  of,  14, 
and  note,  15  ;  entrances  to,  15, 
16,  170,  189,  191;  195;  struc- 
ture of,  11,  et  seq.,  168,  et  seq.  ; 
galleries,  16-19  ;  loculi,  19-24  ; 
cubiciila,  '24-31  ;  different  lev- 
els of,  31-33  ;  luminari,  34,  35 
origin  of,  37,  38,  49,  an-l  note* 
55.  56,  note  'S  5&,  :^oo;  not  pa- 
gan arenaria,  38-44 ;  geology 
of,  16,  39  ;  perils  of  exploring, 
46-48  ;  Jewish, 49-53,  188  ;  not 


-^.«?:rt; 


4^' 


S56 


Index. 


E*:i 


offspring  of  fear,  58  ;"  protected 
by  law,  62,  63  ;  those  of  first 
century,  73 ;  reflect  history  of 
the  church,  99-104,  124,  136, 
137 ;  a  refuge  from  persecu- 
tion, 84,  87,  note  X,  100-104  ; 
secret  stairway  in,  loi,  174  ; 
disuse  and  abandonment  of, 
1 50,  ei  seq. ;  restoration  and 
adornment  of,  124,  136,  137 ; 
spoliation  of,  137, 154  ;  destruc- 
tion of,  145-147 ;  Medioeval 
employment  of,  146,  147  ;  pil- 
grimages to,  136,  148, 175, 176  ; 
re-discovery  and  exploration  of, 
150,  et  seq.  ;  literature  of,  151- 
163  ;  present  control  of,  16 1  ; 
principal  ones,  account  of,  164, 
£t  seq.  ;  of  Callixtns,  167-183  ; 
of  Praetextatus,  1S3  ;  of  Sebas- 
tian, 184 ;  of  Domitilla,  189  ; 
of  Nereus  and  Achille3,  ib.  ; 
of  St.  Helena,  190;  of  St.  Cy- 
riaca,  191  ;  of  St.  Agnes,  194- 
197;  of  Ale:  nder,  197;  of  St. 
Priscilla,  198  ;  art  of,  203,  et 
seq.,  see  Art  "  ;  Mithraic  tomb 
in,  214-218  ;  symbolism  of,  225, 
et  :eq.  ;  Biblical  Cycle  of,  282. 
'/  ^eq.  ;  gilt  glasses,  etc.,  of, 
362,  etseq.  ;  inscriptions  of,  395, 
et  seq.  ;  doctrinal  teachings  of, 
415,  et  seq.  ;  evidences  concern- 
ing Christian  life  and  character, 
453.  ^^  •5'^^.  y  (for  last  six  see  iii 
verbis) ;  summary  of  testimony, 

551-553- 

Catechists,  530-532. 

Catechumens,  ib. 

Cecilia,  St.,  crypt  of,  178  ;  legend 
of,  1 79-1 8 1. 

Celibacy  of  clergy,  not  a  primitive 
practice,  522-524 ;  praise  of, 
527,  528  ;  practice  of,  529. 

Character  of  early  Christians,  461- 
4^^,481,  482  ;  of  pagans,  464, 
479-481  :  see  "Persecutions." 

Charity,  early  Christian,  483-485, 

504. 
Christ,   'outhful  aspect  of,  in  art, 
342,  and  note  f  ;  traditional  ap- 
pearance of,  343-345  ;   patristic 


testimony  concerning,  343-345  J 
early  images  of,  345,  and  note*, 
346-348  ;  miraculuu.-;  iir.agesuf, 
345,  note  f  ;  degradation  in  art- 
representations  of,  347-352. 
Christians,  early,  rank  of,  56,  57, 
and  note  *,  89,  169,  417,  458- 
460,  480;     calumnies   against, 

548,  549- 

Christianity,  spread  of,  57,  116- 
119  ;  persecutions  of,  70,  et  seq., 
see  in  verba ;  triumph  of,  ibid., 
496  ;  purifies  morals,  480  ;  cul- 
tivates charity,  483-485  ;  pro- 
tects life,  485  ;  elevates  slaves, 
486,  487 ;  suppresses  games, 
488,  489  ;  raises  woman,  491- 
493  ;  moral  triumphs  of,  504; 

Clement  of  Alexandria,  quoted, 
384,  385,  497,  498,  and  note  f . 

Clergy,  orders  of,  507  ;  in  Greek 
church,  ib.,  note  * ;  bishops, 
507-511,  524,  525  ;  presbyters, 
511-513,  525;  deacons,  514; 
subdeacons,  515  ;  lectors,  515, 
516;  acolytes.  517;  exorcists, 
517-519  ;  multiplication  of,  521, 
note ;  non-celibate,  522-526. 

Confessional,  reputed,  531. 

Conjugal  affections,  early  Chris- 
tian, 471-474  ;  pagan  do.,  475, 
476. 

Constant! ne,  92,  120,  121. 

Constantinian.  monogram,  465  ; 
genesis  of,  466-468 ;  various 
forms  of,  267-269 ;  becomes 
cross,  270-273,  '•.ee  "  Cross." 

Cornelius,  tomb  of,  169. 

Cross,  true,  relics  of,  139,  note  f, 
140,  noies  f,  X  ;  legend  of,  271, 
272,  and  note  ;  rare  in  Cata- 
combs, 260  ;  pagan  abhorrence 
of,  ib.  ;  caricature  oc,  261,  and 
note  §  ;  recognition  of  in  na- 
ture, etc.,  235.  262,  263  ;  sup- 
posed mysterious  powt;r  of,  263, 
264  ;  pre-Christian,  281,  note. 

Crucifixion,  not  represented  in 
early  Christian  art,  273  ;  sym- 
bolically indicaied,  274;  hist 
example  of,  275  ;  art  develop- 
ment of,  275-281. 


ill 


Index. 


557 


Crucifix,  genesis  of,  279,  280. 
Cubicula,  24-29,  339,  531. 
Cyprian,  quoted,   82,  434 ;  death 
of,  84,  note  X. 

Damasus,  123,  175,  406, 

Daniel  in  the  lions'  den,  298,  299. 

Dates  of  Catacombs,  73  ;  of  in- 
scriptions, 408-410,  416,  ct  seq. 

David  and  Goliath,  394. 

Deacons,  514;  wives  of,  474,  526. 

Deaconesses,  526-530, 

Deaths  of  persecutors,  93,  note  \. 

Deems,  persecution  under,  8i. 

De  Rossi,  159,  160,  399,400,406. 

Diocletian,  persecution  under,  89, 
and  note  ^j,  90. 

Diptychs,  393,  304. 

Divinity  of  Christ,  taught,  449, 450. 

Doctrinal  teachings  of  Catacombs, 
415,  t7  seq.;  see  "Purgatory," 
"  Resurrection,  '  "  Trinity,"  etc. 

Dolls,  etc.,  found  in   Catacombs, 

Domestic  relations,  vidence  con- 
cerning, 465,  et  seq.;  parental 
relations,  466-468  ;  pagan,  do., 
468-470;  filial  do.  470  ;  conju- 
gal do.,  471-474  ;  pagan  do.,  475, 
476;  fraternal  do.,  476  ;  friendly 
do.,  476. 

Domine  Quo  Vadis,  legend  of, 
107,  note  *. 

Doniitilia,  Catacomb  of,  55-57, 
and  57,  note,  189. 

Doves,  symbolical,  236-239,  404. 

Elijah,  294. 

Energumens,  519. 

Epigraphy,  Christian,  literature  of, 
399,  400  ;  examples  of  sOl,  et 
seq.;  see  '*  Inscriptions." 

Eucharist,  symbols  of,  250,  252, 
542;  celebration  of,  541-545. 

Filial  affection, early  Christian, 470. 

Fish,  syrcibolical,  252-260,  378  ; 
the  word  a  sacred  anagram, 
252 ;  an  allusion  to  baptism, 
253  ;  a  tessara,  255,  389  ;  a  eu- 
charistic  symbol,  256 ;  Amtun 
icththyic  inscription,  237-259. 


Fonts,  baptismal,  537,  538. 

Fossors,  132-135,  519,  526. 

Fraternal  affections,  early  Chris- 
tian, 476. 

Funeral  rites.  Christian,  499-502  ; 
pagan  do.,  503. 

Future  state,  doctrine  concern- 
ing, 417-431  ;   pagan  do.,  436- 

444- 

Galerius,  91. 

Galleries  of  Catacombs,  it^etseq. 

Gallienus,  86. 

Gaume,  Abbe,  on  the  Catacombs, 

201. 
Gilt  glasses,  early  Christian,  362  ; 

suljjects    represented     in,    364- 

367  ;  convivial   inscriptions  of, 
367,    368  ;    some    sacramental, 

368  ;  dates  of,  369. 

God  in  art,  352-361  ;  alleged  sar- 

cophagal  exanii)le  of,  354-356  ; 

symbolized    in    Catacombs    by 

hand,  290,  356. 
Good  Shepherd,   the,  symbol  of 

Christ,  245-248  ;  statue  of,  390. 
Graffiti,  pagan,  59,  60  ;  Christian, 
^  1.30,  148,  174,  175. 
(jraves,  see  "  Loculi," 
Greek  language,  use  of  at  Rome, 

406,  407. 

Hand  as  symbol  of  God,  293,  356. 

Hebrew  children,  the  three,  298, 
299. 

Helena,  vSt.,  Catacomb  of,  196. 

Heresy,  growth  of,  119,  note. 

Hippolytus,  statue  of,  392  ;  char- 
acter of,  393. 

Horse,  symbolical,  382. 

Iconoclasm,  early,  222. 

Ichthyic     inscription,      257-259; 

Ichthyic  .symbol,  see  "  Fi.sh." 

Ignatius,  martyrdom  of,  74,  note 
"*,  125. 

Image  worship,  222-224. 

Imprecations,  pagan,  61  ;  Chris- 
tian, 64,  65. 

Inscriptions,  early  Christian,  gen- 
eral character  of,  395,  et  seq.; 
as.->ociatiuns  of,  39S  ;  collection 


558 


Index. 


II' 


and  classification  of,  3g8-4(X) ; 
literature  of,  ib.  ;  rude  exam- 
ples of,  66,  98,  238,  267,  268, 
401,  ^/  seq.  ;  barbarous  Latinity 
of,  403,  and  note  *,  407,  422, 
426  ;  inverted,  404  ;  reversed, 
iO. ;  brief,  238,  401-405  ; 
Greek,  406,  407  ;  dates  of,  408- 
410,  416,  et  seq.;  notes  of  time 
in,  410-412,  508  ;  doctrinal 
teachings  of,  415,  et  seq.,  see 
"  Purgatory,"  etc. ;  concerning 
future  state,  417,  et  seq.;  pa- 
gan do.,  436-444 ;  cheerful 
character  of,  427,  430,  443,452  ; 
concerning  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection,  431  ;  concerning 
Christian  life  and  character,  453, 
et  seq.  ;  names,  expressive,  454- 
457;  pagan  do.,  455,  note  ^, 
457  ;  puritan  do.,  455,  note  g  ; 
evidence  of  early  Christian  char- 
acter, 461-463  ;  of  pagan  do., 
464  ;  of  domestir;  relations,  465, 
et  seq. ;  of  parental  do.,  466- 
468  ;  of  pagan  do.,  468-470  ;.of 
filial  do.,  470;  of  conjugal  do., 
471-474;  of  pagan  do.,  475, 
476  ;  age  of  marriage,  473,  note 
*  ;  fraternal  relations,  476  ; 
friendly  do.,  476  ;  evidence  con- 
cerning clerical  orders,  506,  et 
seq.,  see  "Clergy"  ;  concerning 
Christian  rites  and  institutions, 
432,  et  seq.,  see  "  Rites.  ' 

Invocation  of  saints,  first  exam- 
ples of,  426,  446-449. 

Isaac,  sacrifice  of,  288,  289. 

Jerome,  quoted,  36,  450,  498,  502. 
Jews   at  Rome,  49  ;    their  Cata- 
comb, 50-54,  1S8  ;  epitaphs  of, 

53- 
Job,  fresco  of,  293. 
Jonah,  story  of,  299-304. 
Joseph,  290. 
Justin  Martyr,  76. 

Kip,  Bishop,  on  the  Catacombs, 
162. 

Labarum,  legend  of  the,  268. 
Lactantius,  De  Mort.  Persec.   93, 
note  \. 


Lamb,  symbol  of  Christ,  249,  250. 
Lamps,  early  Christian,  yi^yi'^- 
Lapidarian  Gallery,  395. 
Lawrence,  St.,  martyrdom  of,  86, 

note  *  ;  tomb  of,  192. 
Lazarus,  raising  of,  329-331. 
Lectors,  515,  516,  526. 
Literature  of  the  Catacombs,  151"" 

163. 
Loculi,   19-21  ;    number   of,    21  ; 

how  closed,  22,  23  ;  contents  of, 

23,  24  ;  made   during   life,  65  ; 

sale  of,  132. 
Love-feast,  see  "  Agape." 
Luminari,  34,  35. 

MacFarlane,  on   the    Catacombs, 

45.  161. 
Magi,  adoration  of,  305,  306. 
Maitland,on  the  Catacombs,  161. 
Marcus    Aurelius,    character    of, 

75.  y^'^- 

Mariolatry,  no  trace  of  in  Cata- 
combs, 305,  306,  310,  316,  323  ; 
development  of,  312-323. 

Marriage,  references  to,  304,  305, 
471-474.  494-496  ;  pagan  do., 
475.  476,  492,  493  ;  age  of,  473, 
note  *. 

Marriott,  on  the  Catacombs,  162. 

Martyr  bishops  of  Rome,  81-87, 

94-96. 

Martyrdom  of  Ignatius,  74,  note 
* ;  of  Polycarp,  76 ;  of  Per- 
petua,  79,  note  \  ;  of  Lawrence, 
86,  note*;  (see  antea  and  pas- 
te a) ;  the  passion  for,  112-115; 
effects  of,  ib. ;  references  to, 
372  ;  symbols  of,  17,  369-375- 

Martyr  epitaphs  : — of  Marius,  75  ; 
of  Alexander,  77,  note  * ;  of 
Sixtus,  85  ;  of  Marcellus,  94  ; 
of  Eusebius,  95  ;  of  Sebastian, 
96  ;  of  Lannus,  98  ;  see  106,  et 
seq, ;  of  St.  Agnes,  193. 

Martyrologies,  110-I12. 

Martyrs,  '"umber  of,  105-108, 178  ; 
sufferings  of,  108-112  ;  festivals 
in  honour  of,  127  ;  adornment  of 
tombs  of,  123, 124  ;  spoliation  of 
do.,  128, 137, 145  ;  reverence  for, 
123-128  ;  burial  near,  128--132  ; 


Index. 


559 


pilgrimages  to  tombs  of,  i.'^6, 
148  ;  veneration  of  martyr  reUcs, 
124-128;  transl-itiuii  ol,  137, 
142, 143,  note  ♦,  144,  notes*,}. 

Mary,  Virgin,  legends  of,  307  ;  in 
art,  305-314 ;  miraculous  im- 
ages of,  317,  note  ^  ;  assump- 
tion of,  218,  and  noteg  ;  hymns 
to,  320, 

Maximin,  persecution  of,  8l. 

McCaul,  Dr.,  on  early  Christian 
epigraphy,  162,  note  f,  163,414, 
421,  541. 

Mithraic  monument  in  Cata- 
combs, 2^4-2 I 8. 

Mosaic,  7^3. 

Moses  en  lloreb  290;  on  Sinai, 
ib. ;  striking  lock,  291,  292. 

Ministry,  rites,  and  institutions  of 
primitive  church,  506,  et  seq., 
see  •'  Clergy,"  and  "  Kites." 

Names,  early  Christian,  expressive 
character  of,  454,  455  ;  pagan 
do.,  455,  note  |,  457. 

Neophytes,  322,  323,  54-^ 

Nimbus  iii  art,  208,  note  f. 

Noah,  story  of,  286-288. 

Northcote,  on  the  Catacombs,  i6i. 

Objects  found  in  Catacombs,  362, 
et  seq.  ;  see  "  Gilt  Glasses,"  etc. 
Opisthographae,  268,  413. 
Oranti,  308-310. 

Pagan  epitaphs,  59-62,  396,  397, 
413,  414,  434-441.  460,  note, 
469,  475-478. 

Pagan  influence  in  art,  see  '*  Art." 

Paganism,  decadence  of,  117  ;  so- 
cial condition  of,  479-481. 

Paintings,  see  "Art,"  "  Symbol- 
is'ii,"  and  different  subjects  of. 

Palm  and  crown,  symbolical,  230; 
reputed  sign  of  martyrdom,  372. 

"  Papal  Crypt,"  170-178. 

Parental  affection,  early  Christian, 
406-468  ;  pagan  do.,  468-470. 

Paul,  St.,  martyrdom  of,  200 ;  in 
art,   336-337,   and   notes ;    see 
"  Peter  and  Paul." 
"^Pauliuusof  Nola,  quoted,  221. 


Peacock,  symlx)lical,  240. 
Pcrpetua,  martyrdom  of,  79,  note  |. 
I'crrct,  his  great  work  on  the  Cat- 
acombs, 158,  159, 
Persecutions,  early,  cause  of,   70, 

71  ;  Neronian,    71  ;    Domitian, 

72  ;  Aurclian,  76  ;  of  Commo- 
dus.  78 ;  of  Severus,  79 ;  of 
Maximin,  8l  ;  Decian,  81,  82, 
Valerian,  83,  84 ;  Diocletian, 
88-91  ;  extent  of,  105-108  ;  vir- 
ulence of,  108-113. 

Peter,  St.,  at  Rome  (?),  53,  and 
note  ♦  ;  denying  Christ,  332  ; 
apprehension  of,  335  ;  in  art, 
337  ;  cultus  of,  338,  and  note  ♦  ; 
lelics  of,  53,    note  *  ;    font  of, 

537. 

Peter  and  Paul,  crypt  of,  186-188  ; 
in  art,  336,  337,  365,  367. 

Piani,  of  Catacombs,  31-33. 

Pilate,  333,  334. 

Polycarp,  martyrdom  of,  76. 

Pope  the,  50v),  51 1,  and  notes. 

Prayers  for  dead,  unknown  in 
earliest  times,  421  ;  first  exam- 
ple of,  442,  443  ;  prayers  to  the 
dead, 446-449. 

Prtetextatus,  Catacomb  of,  183. 

Presbyters,  51 1-5 13;  sometimes 
had  secular  employment,  513, 
and  note  || ;  married,  525, 

Prudentius,  quoted,  ll,  110,  115, 
124. 

Purgator)',  unknown  to  early 
Christians,  420,  423,  424,  445, 
446. 

Relics,  worship  of,  124-126,  138- 
143,544;  traffic  in,  138,  139; 
supposed  efficacy  of,  140 ;  gro- 
tesque Mediaeval  do.,  ib.,  notes 
f,  |,  g  ;  reputed  martyr  do., 
369  ;  misinterpretation  of,  141- 

143.  379. 

Resurrection,  doctrine  of,  430-433. 

Rings  from  Catacombs,  284. 

Rites  and  institutions  of  primi- 
tive church  ; — marriage,  471- 
474  ;  funeral,  499-503  ;  baptism, 
532-541  ;  eucharist,  541-545  ; 
Agape,  545-551  ;  see  in  verbis. 


SCo 


Index, 


Knni.inism,  unsupported  by  early 
Christian  epigraphy,  416-418, 
422-424;  first  trace  of,  425, 
426,  442,  445,  44f),  521-524; 
compared  with  primitive  Chris- 
tianity, 551-553- 

Rome,  fall  of,  134,  135. 

Romish  misinterpretation  of  relics, 
141-143  ;  of  leaf  points,  227  ; 
of  blood  cuj)  (?),  370. 

San  (Jreal,  the,  141-142,  note. 

Sarcophagi,  334,  340-342,  and 
342,  note  *. 

Seals,  early  Christian,  266,  270, 
384-386. 

Sebastian,  Catacomb  and  legend 
of,  184,  185. 

Sepulchral  areas,  56,  note  *,  59,60. 

Sepulchres,  pagan,  13,  note  *,  58  ; 
sacrcdness  of,  58-63,  69  ;  Chris- 
tian, sacredncss  of,  63-65,  69  ; 
violation  of,  see  in  verbo. 

Sepulture,  pagan,  13,  note  *,  49, 
58-61,  66-68,  169,  389,  390, 
503  ;  Jewish,  49-54  ;  Christian, 

499-503. 
Ship,  symbolical,  230,  235,377. 
Slaves  and  slavery,  486,  487. 
Soldiers,  489,  490. 
Slag,  symbolical,  441,  538. 
Stanley,  Dean,  on  the  Catacombs, 

415-  . 

Symbolism,  204,  225,/-/ j^^.  /  in- 
terpretation of,  220. 

Symbols,  phonetic,  229,  230 ; 
trade  do.,  231-23'  374;  sym- 
bolical anchor,  234,  235  ;  ship, 
235j  377  ;  crown  and  palm,  236 ; 
dove,   236-239  ;  peacock,  240  ; 

Ehcenix,  cock,  ib.  j   stag,  241  ; 
orse,  ib.y  and  382  ;  lion,  hare, 


24T  ;  vine,  l^alancc,  242  ;  Clood 
Shepherd,  243-248,  390;  lamb, 
249-251  ;  fish,  252-260,  see  in 
verho ;  cross,  263-28 1,  see  in 
verbo;  Cod  symbolized  by 
hand,  290,  356. 

Tertullian,  qu  t.:d,    70,  235,451, 

489.  494,  497   .47. 
Time,  notation  t,t,  410-412. 
Thundering  Legion,  78,  note  ♦. 
'I'oilet   articles    from  Catacombs, 

3«5.  386. 
Tombs,  violatio;)  of,  see  in  x'crbo  ; 

sacredncss  of,  58-63,  ^9. 
Toys  from  Catacombs,  387. 
Trades,  symbols  of,  231-234,  274  ; 

recorded  in  epitaphs,  459,  4C0  ; 

pagan  do.,  460,  note  *. 
Trinity,    alleged      representation 

of,  354-360;  doctrine  of,  449- 

452. 

Valerian,  persecution  of,  83. 

Vases,  early  Christian,  380;  bap- 
tismal, 382. 

Veronica,  the,  346,  note. 

Violation  of  tombs,  59,  61,  64,  arid 
note  \,  65,  and  note  *. 

Virginity,  praise  of,  527,  528,  and 
notes. 

Virgin  Mary,  see  "  Mary." 

Virgins,  epitaphs     f,  528. 

Wiseman,  his  "  Fabiola,"  158. 

Woman,  pagan  de<;radation  oi, 
490-493 ;  Christian  elevation 
of,  493-495,  and  notes  ;  apparel 
of,  497.  498. 

Young,  the,  cave  of  primitive 
church  for,  529,  530. 


THE     END. 


